Colbert's Final Countdown: Laughter, Tears, and a Farewell That Feels Like a Wake

 Updated: May 20, 2026 / 1:35 AM ET

By: Eric Deggans

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ends its run Thursday night, but the real goodbye has already begun. The final episodes are airing this week, and our critic-at-large, Eric Deggans, is tracking every moment of catharsis, chaos, and quiet reflection.

Tuesday, May 19, 2026 — The Night the Past Came Home

If you were watching Tuesday night, you weren't just watching a show. You were watching a wake — but the fun kind. The kind where old friends show up, roast each other, and then burst into song.

Stephen Colbert welcomed Jon Stewart, his former boss and lifelong anchor. But this wasn't a standard reunion. It was a mirror.

"We first worked together nearly 30 years ago," Colbert noted, referencing his time as a correspondent on The Daily Show. But Stewart, always the sharpest knife in the drawer, cut deeper: The two men realized they share a bizarre, bittersweet bond.

They've both been canceled by Paramount.

Colbert's Late Show ends Thursday after a decade-plus run, axed by Paramount-owned CBS. Stewart's self-titled talk show in the mid-1990s — also syndicated by Paramount — met the same fate.

"The term back then was s---canned," Stewart joked.

Then he pulled out the big guns: the wisdom of David Letterman, who once told Stewart on his final night: "Don't confuse cancellation with failure… But in this case, it is also a failure."

The room cracked up. But you could feel the truth behind the laughter.

The Surreal Finale Within the Finale

Stewart didn't stop there. He wheeled out two motorized recliner chairs, and the two men sat back like tired kings while Andra Day belted her 2015 anthem "Rise Up" — a song about overcoming hardship, which, in this context, felt less like a celebration and more like a prayer.

Later, David Byrne of Talking Heads took the stage, performing "Burning Down the House" with his signature blue jumpsuits and wireless instruments. Colbert, knowing he had only two nights left, threw on his own jumpsuit and joined in — dancing with the kind of reckless, joy-soaked abandon that only comes when you have nothing left to lose.

Monday, May 18, 2026 — The Night They Didn't Play the Clips

Most shows ending a 10+ year run would open finale week with a highlight reel — a glossy montage of celebrity moments and viral bits.

Colbert didn't do that.

Instead, he let the silence do the talking. The show felt heavier. The jokes landed differently. The audience knew what was coming. Colbert didn't need to remind them of what they'd lost. He just needed to be present.

What's Left

Thursday night is the final episode. But if Tuesday was any indication, Colbert isn't going out with a bang.

He's going out with a full-throated, messy, dancing-in-a-jumpsuit, crying-while-laughing, I-love-you-man kind of goodbye.

And for a host who spent over a decade mocking the powerful and comforting the weary, that feels exactly right.

Burning down the house, indeed.

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