Paul McCartney helps Stephen Colbert say goodbye to 'The Late Show' in
ambitious final show
[May 22, 2026]
By MARK KENNEDY
NEW YORK (AP) — Stephen Colbert chatted with Paul McCartney and joined
him on stage for a raucous performance of “Hello, Goodbye” on the final
broadcast of CBS' “The Late Show” on Thursday night, a bittersweet
farewell for a canceled show that still had a few barbs left for the
network that ended its 33-year run.
At the top of his last show, which grew more surreal and absurd as it
went on, Colbert highlighted the “joy” that he and his team felt
creating more than 1,800 episodes of “The Late Show.”
“The energy that you’ve given us, we sincerely need that to have done
the best possible show we could have for you for the last 11 years,”
Colbert said. “You’ve given it to us. We’ve given it all right back to
you.”
Colbert pretended that Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, was his
final guest, but the pontiff refused to come out of his dressing room
because he hadn’t been supplied the correct kind of snacks, especially
hot dogs.
McCartney then offered himself as a replacement, striding across the
stage as the audience screamed. “I think you’d be a perfect last guest,”
Colbert said.
McCartney said he happened to be in the area, doing errands. He offered
a framed photo of the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater, the final home
for “The Late Show.” The two chatted about when the Beatles first came
to America in 1964, creativity, his new album and McCartney’s childhood.
Final broadcast is filled with surprises
Colbert’s monologue was interrupted by Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim
Meadows, who all pretended to be irked that they weren't the host’s
final guest. “You know what? You got what you deserved,” Meadows fumed.
Other celebrities in the audience who had funny turns during Colbert's
last “Meanwhile” segment were Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds.
Later, Colbert joined Elvis Costello, former bandleader Jon Batiste and
current bandleader Louis Cato for a relaxed performance of Costello’s
“Jump Up.” They all joined the house band and McCartney for the final
song of the night, a performance of “Hello, Goodbye.”
Staffers and audience members — including Colbert's wife, Evie McGee
Colbert — then swarmed the stage as Colbert gave the honor to McCartney
to turn off the building's power. The theater then gets sucked into a
vortex and turns into a snow globe.
Guests in the final week included Michael Keaton, Jon Stewart, Julia
Louis-Dreyfus, Steven Spielberg, David Byrne and Bruce Springsteen,
while there's been a wacky version of “It’s Raining Men” remade into
“It’s Raining Fish.”
On Wednesday night, Colbert was on the other end of his “The Colbert
Questionnaire,” asked things like which sandwich is best and whether
apples are better than oranges. Mark Hamill, Martha Stewart, Ben Stiller
and Robert De Niro were some of the questioners.
David Letterman, the show’s host when it debuted in 1993, joined Colbert
on the roof of the theater to hurl furniture from the set — a nod to one
of Letterman’s classic stunts.
Colbert’s show ends after 11 seasons
CBS announced last summer that Colbert’s show would end, citing economic
reasons after 11 seasons. But Colbert was the ratings leader in
late-night TV. Many — including Colbert — expressed skepticism that
President Donald Trump’s repeated criticism of the show wasn't a factor.
Trump's name on Thursday never came up.
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This image released by CBS shows host Stephen Colbert on the set of
"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" in New York on May 18, 2026.
(Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via AP)
 The decision to shutter the show
came after parent company Paramount’s $16 million settlement of
Trump’s lawsuit over a “60 Minutes” interview as Paramount awaited
his administration's approval of a pending sale to Skydance Media.
Colbert had called it a “big fat bribe.” On Thursday, he showed a
clip of a sympathetic dolphin clicking with the subtitle: “It was a
financial decision.”
During the “Meanwhile” segment, Colbert mentioned that the owner of
some music used in the “Peanuts” animated specials had grown
litigious. Just then, the band started playing “Peanuts” music. “Oh,
no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money,” the host said.
The final show seemed to be marred by technical snafus, with stray
sounds and glitches. Later Colbert encountered the reason in a
pretaped bit — an interdimensional wormhole that astrophysicist Neil
deGrasse Tyson helpfully explained was opened because a top rated
show could also been canceled.
Jon Stewart also made an appearance, explaining the wormhole was a
metaphor, and Colbert reunited with his fellow late night hosts
Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers. Elijah
Woods was present for a “The Lord of the Rings” joke.
Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon ran reruns on Thursday
Colbert’s chief rivals, ABC’s “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and NBC’s “The
Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon,” both ran reruns on Thursday. Kimmel
urged viewers to tune into Colbert’s goodbye and then stop watching
CBS.
CBS will fill “The Late Show” slot with “Comics Unleashed,” in which
comedians share stories. Host Byron Allen has vowed to avoid
politics.
Colbert's goodbye — running some 17 minutes over — was ambitious in
a way that other TV late night finales were not. Johnny Carson
wrapped up his stint on “The Tonight Show” in 1992 without any
celebrity guests, just offering classic clips. Jay Leno had Billy
Crystal and Garth Brooks aboard his final goodbye in 2014.
Celebrities like Steve Martin, Chris Rock and Tina Fey participated
in David Letterman’s last Top 10 list for a 2015 finale that also
included Foo Fighters playing “Everlong.”
Colbert’s 11 seasons bridged the rise of Trump and his return to the
White House, the pandemic, the fall of Joe Biden, the Russian
invasion of Ukraine, the United States Capitol under attack in 2021
and the rise of Artificial Intelligence.
“At a time when algorithms are shaping so much of what people see,
hear and even believe, Stephen has been a touchstone shared by
millions,” former Transportation Secretary Pete Buttigieg said in a
video tribute. “His satiric voice, backed by what is clearly a deep
moral core and a love of this country, has had a way of cutting
through the noise and helping show us who we are as a country.”
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