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The final episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert<\/em> aired Thursday.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Music icon Paul McCartney was the show’s final traditional guest.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n Colbert’s fellow late-night hosts again appeared on the show to support their friend and colleague.<\/p>\n<\/div>\n<\/li>\n<\/ul>\n And that’s a wrap for The Late Show<\/em><\/a>.<\/p>\n Stephen Colbert<\/a>, the franchise’s host for the past decade, signed off Thursday, May 21 after over 1,800 shows.<\/p>\n Fans started lining up early<\/a> in the rain for a chance to see Colbert tape his last show and held up signs of thanks to the now-former talk show host.<\/p>\n Colbert opened the show not with his usual monologue but with a message to the audience<\/a>: “This show, I want you to know, has been a joy for us to do for you,” he told the camera. “In fact, we call this show the ‘Joy Machine.'”<\/p>\n The machine part, he said, was required to crank out so many shows.<\/p>\n “But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn’t hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears,” Colbert said. “And I cannot adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other and how much we mean to each other.”<\/p>\n But he also cracked, “If you’re just tuning into The Late Show<\/em>, you missed a lot<\/em>.”<\/p>\n The comedian did not once mention President Donald Trump<\/a>, his frequent sparring partner over recent years who many believe used his authority over CBS network’s business dealings to get Colbert’s show canceled<\/a>.<\/p>\n While there were numerous celebrities in the audience who made a “forced” celebrity cameos and wanted to be his last guest \u2014 including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Tim Meadows \u2014 Colbert’s last sit-down interview was with music icon Paul McCartney<\/a>. The former Beatle returned to where it all began, the Ed Sullivan Theater, where his band famously performed on The Ed Sullivan Show<\/em> in 1964.<\/p>\n