Content Advisory: This article discusses the end of a long-running TV show, career burnout, and late-night television cancellation. Reader discretion is advised.
Stephen Colbert is getting ready to say goodbye to ‘The Late Show’, and he thinks CBS may have done him a favor.
The 62-year-old host will front his final episode on Thursday, May 21. That episode will also end the entire ‘Late Show’ franchise, closing a 33-year run that began with David Letterman in 1993.
Colbert has hosted the CBS late-night series since September 2015. Now, as the end approaches, he is admitting the job took more out of him than viewers may realize.
“It takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day,” Colbert said.
Then came the line that raised eyebrows. He wondered if CBS may have “saved my life” by canceling the show.
Stephen Colbert Says The Show Took Everything
Colbert said the cancellation gives him enough time and energy to think about what comes next.
“It takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day, and now I’ll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do,” he said.
That does not mean he regrets the run.
Colbert said he tried not to take the experience for granted, especially filming inside the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York.
“I tried never to take for granted filming in the Ed Sullivan Broadway theater,” he said. He also praised the audience and the team around him, saying he worked with “the funniest people I know every day.”
For Colbert, the show was both pressure and privilege. He spent years turning anxiety, politics, and daily chaos into jokes before America went to sleep.
Colbert Does Not Know What Comes Next
Colbert is already working on a new ‘Lord Of The Rings’ movie with his son Peter, but he said he still does not know what his next full-time job will be.
“The show’s like a flaming toboggan ride every day and the trick is to not hit any trees on your way down the mountain,” he said.
He added that the series takes almost all of his brain, leaving little space to plan the next chapter.
“So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there,” he said.
Then came a classic Colbert add-on: “But I’m available. Yes.”
Colbert Is Ready To Leave The Daily Conversation
Colbert also said he is not worried about stepping out of the nightly political conversation.
“I’ll never stop caring about my country,” he said. “I’m a perfectly fine fan of me, but I am not of the opinion that if my voice is missing from the national conversation, the republic will turn awry.”
He kicked off his final week with a compilation episode filled with bits that were once considered too strange, messy, or outrageous for the show.
As for his final sign-off, Colbert said he wants to keep it simple.
“I hope they laughed. I hope they felt better at the end of the day,” he said.
That may be the cleanest way to end it. After 11 seasons, thousands of jokes, and one exhausting nightly ride, Colbert is stepping away with his sense of humor intact.
