The final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert featured so much of what defined host Stephen Colbert’s 11-season run on CBS: Cheeky jokes, nerdy references, good music, and friendly faces. It was sincere without marinating in emotion, simultaneously silly and dignified. Colbert’s time in late-night didn’t end by choice, but he owned these final moments.
The episode technically began with a heartfelt personal introduction from Colbert, followed by a “special message” from past late show hosts going back to the early days of television. From there, Colbert tried to proceed like it was business as usual, filling his usual monologue with topical jokes about the recent hantavirus outbreak and a scandal involving a sexy priest calendar. It’s funny to realize that jokes like “this guy’s not a fan of little pricks… Peabody please!” are now a literal part of TV history.
During the course of the monologue, as well as a later “Meanwhile” segment, Colbert was interrupted by that most classic of bits: the celebrity pop-up from the audience. Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Tig Notaro, and Ryan Reynolds all showed up assuming they were going to be Colbert’s final guest, and all were disappointed to find out the answer was no. Yelled Meadows as he stormed out: “You got what you deserve!”
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The joke was that Colbert’s final guest was supposed to be the Pope, but “the Pope,” insulted by the quality of hot dogs he’d been provided, declined to leave his dressing room. So Colbert had to settle for Paul McCartney, who came out for an extended interview with more than a bit of historical significance to it, since McCartney first came to the Ed Sullivan Theater on February 9th, 1964, as a member of a rock and roll band called The Beatles. McCartney’s memories of playing on that very stage were reasonably sharp, and the full interview had a loose, conversational feel that spoke to Colbert’s skills behind the desk. Skills that will now have to find a new use.
There were early nods to the circumstances under which this episode was being made, such as a pod of dolphins taking responsibility for the show’s cancellation (“It was purely a financial decision!”). And when Colbert talked about how the owner of the Peanuts music library is currently suing multiple organizations over unauthorized use of Vince Guaraldi’s music, Louis Cato and the Joy Machine started playing a very familiar riff.
“Louis, is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music that I just said people are being sued for using?” Colbert said with a gleeful grin. “Oh no, I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money.” If this was an intentional callback to Conan O’Brien gleefully spending NBC’s money on music rights during his final days hosting The Tonight Show… Well, well-played either way.
The heavier material came during an extended pre-taped sketch set backstage, as Colbert went looking for the source of the technical difficulties that had been teased throughout the episode. What he found was a black hole, which according to Neil deGrasse Tyson was created because “two contradictory realities cannot coexist without rupturing the space-time continuum.” The specific contradictory reality in this case: “If a show is number one on late night and it also gets canceled.”
“They canceled Gutfeld?” Colbert exclaims.
After imparting a warning that Late Show’s cancellation “has created a rift in the comedy variety talk continuum — all of late night television could be destroyed,” Tyson gets sucked into the black hole (Colbert might have pushed him). Then, the other members of the Strike Force Five — John Oliver, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers — showed up to offer their sympathies, which included Kimmel reflecting that “One of these holes opened up at my show last year, but it went away after about three days.”
Much like Colbert’s beloved Lord of the Rings, the final act featured multiple endings: He wrapped up the backstage segment by returning to his audience, but before he could get through one more joke, the black hole returned, sucking everything and everyone (including multiple blink-and-you-missed-them cameos and Easter eggs) up into the void.
Once sucked into the void, Colbert accompanied Elvis Costello, former band leader Jon Batiste, and Cato for a very chill performance of Costello’s “Jump Up.” Then came a hard cut out of the void and back to the studio, where a jubilant dance party broke out as McCartney and the assembled artists played “Hello Goodbye” — members of Colbert’s family and the Late Show staff dancing along the stage.
Those were the last live moments of The Late Show. While the music was still playing, Colbert went to a giant switchbox, intending to turn out the lights, then let McCartney actually have the honors. Outside on the streets of New York, the Ed Sullivan Theater went dark — before being sucked up into the black hole and spat out as a snowglobe. Because why not reference one of TV’s most notorious series finales, on your way out the door?
Aside from some obvious allusions, there was nothing overtly political in the finale… Well, okay, Jon Stewart delivering a message from Paramount about being fair and balanced towards the black hole devouring The Late Show counts, but it felt more like a joke intended for Bari Weiss than Donald Trump. Trump’s name, so it happens, was not uttered once during the episode. Sometimes, the most triumphant defiance is keeping a bully’s name out of your mouth.
It was a finale that let Colbert be himself, while saying goodbye to the family that the crew of the best TV shows can become. While he maybe got a little choked up at least one point, the tears never fell. Instead, he held his head up high, sang and danced with a legend, and got in one last Lord of the Rings reference, one that really does say it all: “All we have to decide is what to do with the time that is given us.”