The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is, unfortunately, almost at its end.
After a chaotic year of CBS axing the biggest show on late night and his fans speaking out against the cancellation, Stephen Colbert will be stepping into the Ed Sullivan Theater one last time on May 21 at 11:35 p.m. (Eastern Time). The week leading up to the finale has been more than exciting, with guests like Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, and Bruce Springsteen also sitting across Colbert to say their final goodbyes to the show (plus a very on-the-nose performance of “Burning Down the House” by David Byrne and Colbert himself).
Before the show officially goes off the air, and to pay tribute to a host that certainly deserved better, we’ve put together a list of all the moments that have stayed with us throughout The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s 11-year run.
What Do You Think Happens When We Die, Keanu Reeves? (2019)
Keanu Reeves is a man of few words, and during one of his earlier appearances on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, it seemed like the actor was mainly there to promote John Wick: Chapter 3 and Bill and Ted Face the Music. But after the usual press run banter, Colbert hit Reeves with a big question: “What do you think happens when we die, Keanu Reeves?”
“I know that the ones who love us will miss us,” Reeves replied. The answer got a round of applause from both the live audience and Colbert, and it went on to inspire one of the best segments of the show, The Colbert Questionert.
The ‘Lord of the Rings’ Rap (2021)
If you’re a fan of Colbert, then you know that he doesn’t play when it comes to The Lord of the Rings (his next gig after late-night is, in fact, writing the franchise’s next movie). To celebrate the 20th anniversary of Peter Jackson’s movie trilogy, Colbert tapped most of the trilogy’s original cast members — Elijah Wood, Sean Astin, Billy Boyd, Dominic Monaghan, Hugo Weaving, Andy Serkis, Orlando Bloom, and Viggo Mortensen — for a Tolkien-inspired rap music video. Is the rap a little cringe? Yes. But game respects game, and everyone involved is definitely committed to the bit.
Will Ferrell, Exotic Animal Expert (2016)
Will Ferrell’s been on the show a few other times, but his most memorable eight minutes have to be when he rolls up in safari khakis to introduce us to a set of “the rarest and most endangered animals in the world.” Cue to the Saturday Night Live alum pulling out a kitty cat (or “Mulan the short-spined Peruvian mongoose”), a guinea pig (“a Mongolian bush tiger”), and a goose (“a duck-bodied platypus”).
Maria Ressa on The Decline of Freedom of Speech (2022)
Fresh after announcing the release of her book, How to Stand Up to a Dictator, Maria Ressa visited Colbert to talk about former president Rodrigo Duterte’s war on drugs, the violence and deaths surrounding it, and the loss of freedom of speech both in the Philippines and around the world.
“You don’t really know what freedom means until you’re about to lose it,” the Nobel Peace Prize-winning journalist told Colbert. “[It’s a] death by a thousand cuts. You get a paper cut, and you look away, and it’s bleeding… I think what is happening to the body politic of democracy globally is that we’re getting thousands of cuts and we’re bleeding out, but we don’t notice it because each little cut is just so tiny.”
Andrew Garfield on Death and Grief (2021)
When Andrew Garfield came onto the show to promote tick, tick… BOOM!, his interview could have easily just been him singing acapella to “Boho Days” and dishing about Lin-Manuel Miranda. But Colbert pushed Garfield a little further by asking him how he was doing with the recent loss of his mother.
“We never get enough time with each other,” Garfield told Colbert. “I hope this grief stays with me because it’s all the unexpressed love that I didn’t get to tell her.” The actor isn’t the first to speak candidly about life and death on Colbert’s couch, but Garfield’s answers are a testament to just how effective an interviewer Colbert can be.
Stephen Helps Barack Obama Polish His Résumé (2016)
Ahead of former U.S. President Barack Obama leaving office after his second term, Colbert sat down with him to help prepare him for the job market. Dressed up in a fake moustache and a name tag labeled “Randy,” Colbert proceeded to mispronounce the president’s last name (“‘Obamer?’”), questioned him on his place of birth, and added “efficient in Microsoft Excel” to his résumé.
Joe Biden on the Loss of His Son (2015)
In 2015, back when Joe Biden was still Obama’s vice president, he hopped onto the show to talk to Colbert about why he wasn’t running for the 2016 presidential election. Eventually, though, Colbert gently started to ask him about losing his son Beau to cancer and how he’s coming to terms with his grief. “My dad… used to say, ‘You know your success as a parent when you look at your child and realize that they’ve turned out better than you,’” said Biden. “I was a hell of a success because my son was better than me in almost every way.”
Dua Lipa Interviews Stephen About Faith and Comedy (2022)
Back when Dua Lipa was promoting her Service95 book club, Colbert offered to flip the tables for the evening and answer the pop star’s interview questions instead. Dua asked him if his faith and comedy ever overlapped, and if one ever wins out over the other.
“Ultimately, us all being mortal… the faith will win out in the end,” joked Colbert, “but I certainly hope that when I get to heaven, Jesus has a sense of humor!”
But after a few more jokes, the late-night host gave a more genuine response. “If there’s some relationship between my faith and my comedy, it’s that no matter what happens, you are never defeated,” he said. “You must see this all in the light of eternity, and find some way to love and laugh with each other.”
David Letterman Tells CBS Off (2026)
The Late Show’s creator stopped by the Ed Sullivan Theater for one of Colbert’s final nights, and he had things to say about the show’s cancellation. “A guy comes over and he says he’s from CBS, and then he fired me,” joked Letterman to the crowd. “I will say that I have every right to be pissed off. This theater, you folks wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me, and Stephen wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me… As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, but you can’t take a man’s voice. And that’s the good news indeed.”
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired for 11 years on CBS, with Stephen Colbert taking over the franchise in 2015 following David Letterman’s departure from The Late Show.
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Stephen Colbert’s final episode is scheduled to air on May 21 at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Time from the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
The farewell week featured major guests including Jon Stewart, Steven Spielberg, and Bruce Springsteen, along with a special performance of “Burning Down the House” by David Byrne and Colbert.
One standout moment came when Keanu Reeves answered Colbert’s question about death by saying, “I know that the ones who love us will miss us.” Another widely praised interview featured Andrew Garfield discussing grief and the loss of his mother.
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The show became known for balancing humor with thoughtful discussions about grief, faith, politics, and democracy. Guests like Maria Ressa, Joe Biden, and Dua Lipa shared deeply personal reflections in conversations that went beyond traditional late-night comedy.
Colbert combined sharp satire, emotional intelligence, and genuine curiosity as an interviewer. Whether joking with Barack Obama about résumés or creating a comedic The Lord of the Rings rap with the cast, he consistently mixed sincerity with absurd humor in a way that resonated with audiences for over a decade.
