Ten months after Stephen Colbert announced CBS was canceling his top-rated Emmy- and Peabody-award-winning late-night show, his joke- and tear-filled farewell enters its final week and its May 21 finale.
Colbert is ending well. Recent shows have featured President Barack Obama, the Foo Fighters and fellow TV comedians Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers in a Monday show that drew 2.8 million viewers.
Colbert, a devout Catholic who celebrated his 62nd birthday on last Wednesday’s show, took over David Letterman’s The Late Show in September 2015.
This year, CBS said it was cancelling the show because it was losing money, but it also sought to appease President Donald Trump, a frequent Colbert target who threatened to hold up the $8 billion merger between CBS’ parent company, Paramount, and Skydance Media. Some have called Colbert a “political martyr.”
Colbert was the youngest of 11 children raised in a Catholic family but became an atheist during college and returned to faith after graduation, thanks to an experience reading Jesus’ Sermon on the Mount in a Bible given to him by the Gideons.
A stand-up comedian and actor, he hosted Comedy Central’s news parody show The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014, playing a right-wing commentator who weighed in on current events and examined words, including “truthiness,” a term for something that feels true even though it’s false.
Stephen Colbert and guests Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers during Monday’s May 11, 2026 show. (Photo: Scott Kowalchyk ©2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved)
At the time, Colbert called himself “America’s most famous Catholic” and regularly hosted the show’s official “chaplain” of the “Colbert nation,” Father James Martin, a Jesuit priest, author and an editor at the Jesuit magazine America.
The Late Show had no chaplain but Colbert regularly steered his guest interviews to topics of faith, including Paul Simon, Bruce Springsteen, Oprah Winfrey, and President Joe Biden. Colbert and the president discussed how they overcame personal tragedies that saw family members die.
In a 2015 show, Colbert invited atheist comic Bill Maher to return to the Catholic faith in which he was raised: “Come on back, Bill. The door is always open. Golden ticket right before you. All you have to do is humble yourself before the presence of the Lord, admit there are things greater than you in the universe that you do not understand, and salvation awaits you.”
Maher, who has called religion a “neurological disorder,” declined to embrace Catholicism’s “silly stories.”
“You see, my religion teaches me humility in the face of this kind of attack,” Colbert replied.
Stephen Colbert and guest Jon Stewart during Tuesday’s May 19, 2026 show. (Photo: Scott Kowalchyk ©2026 CBS Broadcasting Inc. All Rights Reserved)
Yet Colbert gleefully skewered church excesses while remaining faithful. “The church is a human institution full of enormous flaws,” he said. “As my mother and father used to say to me, that doesn’t mean it’s not the bride of Christ.”
Colbert had little tolerance for politicians who claim America is a Christian nation but ignore Christ’s teaching.
“If this is going to be a Christian nation that doesn’t help the poor, either we have to pretend that Jesus was just as selfish as we are, or we’ve got to acknowledge that he commanded us to love the poor and serve the needy without condition and then admit that we just don’t want to do it,” he said in 2010.
Once Donald Trump was elected in 2016, he became a regular target of both jokes and serious critiques that led some to call Colbert overly partisan. But many of his political attacks were grounded in his Catholic faith.
After Trump issued an executive order easing IRS restrictions on political activity by churches and religious groups, Colbert discussed the politicization of churches directly with God, who made regular appearances on the domed ceiling of the Ed Sullivan Theater.
“I’m not a big fan of executive orders — they don’t work,” God told Colbert. “I tried 10 of them once, and everyone’s still coveting their neighbor’s wife and taking my name in vain.”
“I’m not a big fan of executive orders — they don’t work,” God told Colbert.
When Vice President JD Vance warned Pope Leo to “be careful” when speaking on theology and politics, Colbert confronted the Catholic convert: “Wow. Hey, hey, hey, JD. I know you’re Catholic, but you joined in 2019. I’ve been genuflecting since the mid 1960s. And let me tell you, brother, I think you’re out over your Catholic skis here.
“I think it’s time for you to sit down. Then stand back up. Then kneel. Then stand again. Then shake hands with people around you. Then kneel a little more. Then go take Communion. And then go back to your pew for some more kneeling. ‘Cause you’re not sneaking out of here after Communion. ’Cause you know who left the Last Supper early? Judas.”
The National Catholic Register said Colbert’s critique of Vance “reminds us that comedy can be prophetic.”
“Vance, while professing the Catholic faith, is serving in an administration that actively celebrates silencing critics,” said NCR. “The same Catholic tradition he has embraced insists on the protection of human dignity and the fostering of open dialogue. By allowing this suppression of dissent to go on, he risks undermining not only democratic institutions but also the credibility of Catholic witness in public life.”
In 2024, Pope Francis invited Colbert and more than 100 comedians from 15 nations to the Vatican for a celebration of humor. Colbert described the “honor” of the papal audience on his show.
CBS’ battles with the Trump administration led network lawyers to cancel an already taped interview with progressive Christian James Talarico, who is running for the U.S. Senate from Texas. After Federal Communications Commission Chairman Brendan Carr warned talk shows they must give equal time to all candidates in a race, Colbert’s Talarico interview was shelved. It was then released on YouTube, where it promptly racked up 7 million views. (It now has 9.4 million views.)
“Mr. Talarico’s gentle but fearless proclamation of faith aims to rescue the word ‘Christian’ from a cynical political culture,” said the Jesuit magazine America. “A movement built around this effort could indeed topple the mighty.”
Colbert, who has joked that he’s looking for a new job in June, has revealed little of his plans but did announce he’s co-writing the script for a new Lord of the Rings movie.
Starting May 25, The Late Show’s time slot will be filled by Byron Allen’s company, Allen Media Group, and its program, Comics Unleashed.