After 11 years as emcee, Stephen Colbert<\/a> hosted the very last episode of The Late Show<\/a> With Stephen Colbert<\/a> on Thursday (May 21) night, following CBS\u2019s abrupt cancellation of the program that was handed down to him by former host David Letterman<\/a>. The show\u2019s axing has been a point of controversy since it was first announced last year, as many saw the move as politically driven, given Donald Trump<\/a>\u2018s distaste for the show and CBS\u2019s parent company\u2019s (Paramount) desire for Trump\u2019s administration to approve of a merger (with Skydance, which ultimately happened).<\/p>\n For his part, Colbert has declined to directly accuse the network of axing the iconic talk show for political reasons, but plenty around him have done all the talking (including Letterman and Colbert\u2019s own penultimate show guest, Bruce Springsteen<\/a>). So how did the Emmy-winning host of The Late Show say goodbye to viewers once and for all?<\/p>\n Well, he started first by sharing a message to CBS affiliates across the country which some of them shared ahead of the airing. In it, he said, \u201cHello,<\/span> CBS<\/span> affiliates.<\/span> Stephen<\/span> Colbert<\/span> here.<\/span> And<\/span> I<\/span> just<\/span> wanted<\/span> to<\/span> express<\/span> my<\/span> gratitude<\/span> for<\/span> your<\/span> supporting<\/span> The<\/span> Late<\/span> Show<\/span> these<\/span> last<\/span> 11 years.<\/span> Having<\/span> your<\/span> broadcast<\/span> as<\/span> a<\/span> lead-in<\/span> has<\/span> been<\/span> a<\/span> huge<\/span> help,<\/span> whether<\/span> you<\/span> were<\/span> covering<\/span> a<\/span> moose<\/span> that<\/span> broke<\/span> into<\/span> a<\/span> local<\/span> coffee<\/span> shop<\/span> or<\/span> a<\/span> deer<\/span> that<\/span> broke<\/span> into<\/span> a<\/span> local<\/span> coffee<\/span> shop.<\/span> So <\/span>thank<\/span> you.<\/span> Also,<\/span> you\u2019re<\/span> going<\/span> to<\/span> want<\/span> to<\/span> tune<\/span> in<\/span> at<\/span> 11:35 for<\/span> tonight\u2019s<\/span> final<\/span> episode <\/span>because<\/span> I\u2019m<\/span> going<\/span> to<\/span> break<\/span> into<\/span> a<\/span> local<\/span> coffee<\/span> shop.\u201d<\/span><\/p>\n Then, when the earlier-taped episode began, Colbert delivered an opening monologue for the ages. Instead of walking out with audience fanfare, he addressed audiences directly.<\/p>\n \u201cWe have done over 1,800 of these shows. And most nights, I come out here, and I talk to the audience beforehand, and tonight I thought I\u2019d talk to the audience in here and the audience out there at home. This show\u2026 has been a joy for us to do for you. In fact, we call this show \u2018The Joy Machine.\u2019 All right, Louis [Cato] stole it from us, and we are currently in litigation right now. You better lawyer up, buddy,\u201d he joked to his band leader.<\/p>\n \u201cWe call it the joy machine because to do this many shows it has to be a machine, but the thing is, if you choose to do with joy, it doesn\u2019t hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears, and I cannot adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other, and how we mean to each other. So, I will just say, I will just say to them, you are all the great Achilles whom we knew. Now, on night one of The Colbert Report<\/a>, back in the day, I said, \u2018Anyone can read the news to you. I promised to feel the news at you,\u2019 and I realized pretty soon in this job that our job over here was different. We were here to feel the news with you, and I don\u2019t know about you, but I sure have felt it.\u201d<\/p>\n Colbert then continued, \u201cI just want to let all y\u2019all know, in here and out there, how important you\u2019ve been to what we have done. The energy that you\u2019ve given us, we sincerely need that to have done the best possible for you for the last seven years\u2026. We love doing the show for you, but what we really love is doing the show with you\u2026\u00a0 Now, I\u2019ll say to you what I\u2019ve said to every audience for the last 11 years, and I have meant it every time. Have a good show. Thanks for being here, and let\u2019s do it, y\u2019all.\u201d<\/p>\n Shortly thereafter, he welcomed his first previously unannounced celebrity guest:\u00a0Breaking Bad<\/a> star Bryan Cranston<\/a>, who showed up in the crowd with a show hat and asked if he could be Colbert\u2019s last A-list guest. Sadly, he was denied that honor, as Colbert cited an even bigger guest in the tank.<\/p>\n Bryan Cranston on The Late Show<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n The second cameo came from Paul Rudd<\/a>, who interrupted Colbert\u2019s humorous news read to offer bananas as a \u201cretirement\u201d gift for Colbert and was incensed to learn that he, too, was not the prized appearance of the evening.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Tim Meadows<\/a> decided to join in on the fun, too. Like the others, he feigned hope of being the final act and storming off in a fit of banana-stealing rage.<\/p>\n Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows on the Late Show<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n After the first commercial break, he thanked his band and those who helped conduct the penultimate episode\u2019s \u201cColbert Questionert\u201d before reprising his \u201cMeanwhile\u201d segment, in which he possibly implicated his parent network in a lawsuit by using Peanuts music with a finger to his chin.<\/p>\n That\u2019s when Colbert noticed a third famous audience member, Tig Notaro, who didn\u2019t have any ambitions of being interviewed and claimed to not even know it was the last show.<\/p>\n Tig Notaro on The Late SHow<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n After that, it was Ryan Reynolds who popped up with full annoyance over not being the \u201cvery special guest\u201d of the evening but was mollified by the chance to celebrate band member Corey Bernhardt.<\/p>\n Ryan Reynolds on The Late Show<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n After the second commercial break, Colbert was poised to introduce his big guest, Pope Leo XIV, whom he previously deemed a dream guest. However, a bad choice of snacks left him clinging to his dressing room. Colbert was satisfied, though, with the arrival of Sir Paul McCartney<\/a> to the stage, \u201cthe perfect final guest.\u201d<\/p>\n Paul McCartney on Stephen Colbert<\/p>\n CBS<\/p>\n McCartney, who said he was simply \u201cin the area\u201d and \u201cdoing errands,\u201d came equipped with a gift, too: a photo of the Beatles performing in the Ed Sullivan Theater decades before. Two of Colbert\u2019s sisters were particularly thrilled to see him.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s always fantastic to come back here,\u201d McCartney said before joking of the screaming fanfare that accompanied his arrival, \u201cLike you say, I always remember the girls in the back of the balcony.\u201d<\/p>\n McCartney then reminisced about his prior time in the theater, saying that when he got his makeup put on in the dressing room, \u201cit was very orange.\u201d To that Colbert joked, \u201cSo\u00a0that\u2019s where it started. Thanks a lot.\u201d McCartney also remembered that his first impression of America was that it was the home of the music he most loved and \u201cthe land of the free.\u201d \u201cStill is, hopefully,\u201d McCartney then said.<\/p>\n This story is in development\u2026<\/p>\n<\/span><\/div>\n
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