2026年5月21日 / 美国东部时间早上6:04 / 哥伦比亚广播公司（CBS）新闻
周四晚，标志性的艾德·沙利文剧院霓虹灯亮起，斯蒂芬·科伯特将走上舞台主持CBS《深夜秀》的最后一期节目，为超过30年的深夜电视历史正式画上句点。
在节目收官前的几天里，一众知名嘉宾和深夜脱口秀同行陆续来到科伯特身边的嘉宾席，分享故事、谈笑风生，也留下了不少动情时刻。
演员汤姆·汉克斯送给他一台打字机。《每日秀》主持人乔恩·斯图尔特带来了助他放松的礼物：两把按摩椅，以及安德拉·戴带来的惊喜小夜曲。
科伯特和1993年节目首播时的主持人大卫·莱特曼一起，将演播室的家具从剧院屋顶扔了下去——这是向莱特曼经典噱头致敬，两人还借机对着公司老板们说了些不客气的话。
“要不是我，你们这些人根本不会待在这座剧院里，要不是我，斯蒂芬也不会坐在这里，我们翻新了这座剧院，结果斯蒂芬来了之后，这里简直变成了贝拉吉奥酒店，”莱特曼上周在节目中说道，“我们都明白，你可以夺走一个人的节目，但夺不走一个人的声音。”
周二，大卫·拜恩做客节目，他和科伯特身着同款蓝色西装，共同演唱了传声头像乐队的经典曲目《燃烧房屋》。
正在进行“希望与梦想之地”巡演的布鲁斯·斯普林斯汀，于周三登台客串。
周四收官夜的嘉宾名单并未提前公布。
CBS早在去年7月就宣布，将在本季末停播《斯蒂芬·科伯特深夜秀》，并终止《深夜秀》这一节目品牌。该公司表示，这“纯粹是出于深夜节目市场环境艰难背景下的财务决策”。
这一解释遭到了部分观众和媒体评论员的质疑，他们怀疑背后有政治动机，因为科伯特一直直言不讳地批评特朗普总统。
“在整个过程中，你始终保持着优雅的姿态，”斯图尔特本周在节目中说道。NBC《今夜秀》主持人吉米·法伦则表示：“你以这样的方式结束节目，我觉得很奇怪。这太令人遗憾了，因为我本想和你多共事几年。”
上周，科伯特与法伦、吉米·坎摩尔、塞斯·梅耶斯和约翰·奥利弗一同登台——这是“打击力量五人组”的重聚，这个播客节目是五位主持人在2023年编剧工会和演员协会罢工期间停播节目时创立的。
“你们是我绝佳的朋友，也是我的优秀榜样，能认识并爱上你们所有人，我无比开心，”科伯特对他们说道。
为纪念科伯特的最后一期节目，坎摩尔和法伦均计划在周四播出重播节目。
现年62岁的科伯特于2015年9月接手《深夜秀》，此前莱特曼已担任该节目主持人22年并宣布退休。
在主持《深夜秀》之前，他曾在喜剧中心频道主持《科伯特报告》长达九年，还曾是斯图尔特主持的《每日秀》中深受观众喜爱的特派记者。
科伯特在艾德·沙利文剧院的演播台前形成了自己独特的主持风格，将幽默、政治讽刺与深度访谈融为一体。
节目刚开播时，莱特曼在接受《CBS今晨》采访时曾说：“就是我穿着西装，顶着看湿度而定的奇怪发型，我们只是努力做一档有趣、好玩、有娱乐性的节目。”
科伯特接手后，《深夜秀》因鲜明的政治倾向和对时事的评论而更广为人知。
除了邀请名人嘉宾和音乐表演者，节目也让观众更深入地了解了科伯特本人：他会将自己虔诚的天主教信仰融入独白和访谈中，甚至曾表示希望教皇利奥十四世能做客节目，直到节目停播。
CBS去年透露，《斯蒂芬·科伯特深夜秀》曾连续九个季度蝉联深夜节目收视冠军。今年9月，该节目斩获艾美奖杰出脱口秀系列奖，颁奖现场全场起立鼓掌。
“我要感谢CBS给予我们参与深夜电视传统的殊荣，我希望这份传统能在我们不再主持节目的很久之后依然延续，”科伯特在领奖时说道。
CBS上个月宣布，拜伦·艾伦的《喜剧大放送》将接替科伯特的节目，占据美国东部时间晚上11:35的播出时段。
艾伦周三在《CBS早间节目》中表示，《深夜秀》的停播是“一件非常遗憾的事”，他将努力留住深夜档观众。
“我喜欢斯蒂芬·科伯特，我是他的铁杆粉丝，”艾伦说道。
去年夏天，科伯特登上舞台向观众宣布节目停播的消息时曾说：“过去十年里，我有幸也有责 任每天在镜头前和你们分享我们的工作。”
“这是一份很棒的工作。我真希望换别人来做，”他说道。
最近，科伯特在接受《人物》杂志采访时表示，他始终“不敢想当然地认为自己能在艾德·沙利文百老汇剧院录制节目，能拥有如此热情的观众，能每天和我认识的最有趣的人合作，还能拿那些让我最焦虑的事情开玩笑”。
“没有人能永远做这份工作……谁知道呢，也许CBS救了我的命，”科伯特告诉《人物》杂志，“每天做节目需要付出极大的精力，现在我有足够的时间和精力去做其他我想做的事了。”
一众明星嘉宾也纷纷感慨节目落幕对自己的意义，汉克斯说道：“我不知道娱乐产业没有你该如何生存下去。”
“非常感谢你为笑声留出了空间，”奥普拉·温弗瑞在上个月的一期节目中对科伯特说道，随后转向观众，“难道他没有在我们的人生中为笑声留出空间，始终陪伴着我们吗？”
请于美国东部/太平洋时间晚上11:35在CBS电视台收看《斯蒂芬·科伯特深夜秀》，或在派拉蒙+平台流媒体播放。
Stephen Colbert hosts “The Late Show” one last time tonight as franchise ends after 33 years
May 21, 2026 / 6:04 AM EDT / CBS News
The iconic Ed Sullivan Theater marquee lights up and Stephen Colbert takes the stage one last time for the final broadcast of “The Late Show” on CBS Thursday night, before the curtain comes down on more than 30 years of late-night TV history.
In the days counting down to the franchise finale, a stream of prominent guests and fellow late-night hosts took their place in the seat beside Colbert to share stories, laughs and some emotional moments.
Actor Tom Hanks gifted him a typewriter. “The Daily Show” host Jon Stewart brought something to help him relax: two massage chairs and a surprise serenade from Andra Day.
Colbert and David Letterman, the show’s host when it debuted in 1993, hurled furniture from the set off the roof of the theater — a nod to one of Letterman’s classic stunts, accompanied by some choice words for the corporate bosses.
“You folks wouldn’t be in the theater if it weren’t for me, and Stephen wouldn’t be here if it weren’t for me, and we rebuilt this theater, and then Stephen came in and look at this, it’s like the Bellagio,” Letterman said on the show last week. “As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice.”
David Byrne joined the show on Tuesday and he and Colbert, in matching blue suits, performed the Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House.”
Bruce Springsteen, in the midst of his “Land of Hope and Dreams” tour, made a guest appearance on Wednesday.
The guests for Thursday’s finale were not revealed in advance.
“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert with guests Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers during Monday’s show. Scott Kowalchyk/CBS News via Getty Images
CBS announced back in July that it would end “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” and retire “The Late Show” franchise at the end of this season. The company said it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
That explanation was met with skepticism from some viewers and media critics who suspected political motives, as Colbert has been an outspoken critic of President Trump.
“You have maintained such grace through this process,” Stewart said on the show this week. Fellow late-night host Jimmy Fallon, of NBC’s “Tonight Show,” said,”I think it’s odd the way it ended for you. And it’s a bummer because I wanted to do this longer with you.”
Last week, Colbert was joined by a lineup of Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver — a reunion of “Strike Force Five,” the podcast the five hosts created when their shows went off the air during the Writers Guild and SAG-AFTRA strikes in 2023.
“You guys have been wonderful friends and great models for me, and I’m so glad to know and love all of you,” Colbert told them.
In recognition of Colbert’s final show, Kimmel and Fallon both planned to air reruns on Thursday.
Actor George Clooney chats with Stephen Colbert on the premiere of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” on Sept. 8, 2015 Jeffrey R. Staab/CBS via Getty Images
Colbert, who is 62, took over as host of “The Late Show” in September 2015 after Letterman retired from the role he’d held for 22 years.
Before “The Late Show,” he spent nine years hosting “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central and had been a fan-favorite correspondent on “The Daily Show” under Stewart.
Colbert developed his own distinctive style behind the desk at the Ed Sullivan Theater, balancing humor, political satire and thoughtful interviews.
Back when the franchise first launched, Letterman told “CBS This Morning,” “It’s me in a suit with peculiar-looking hair, depending on the humidity, and we just try to do an amusing, silly, entertaining show.”
Martin Short (left) with David Letterman on “The Late Show with David Letterman” on Sept. 2, 1993. CBS via Getty Images
After Colbert took over, “The Late Show” became more known for its political bent and commentary on current events.
Along with its celebrities and musical guests, the show gave viewers a more personal look at Colbert himself, who was also known to weave his devout Catholic faith into his monologues and interviews, even saying he wanted Pope Leo XIV to be a guest on the show before it ended.
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” had been the No. 1 program in late night for nine consecutive seasons, CBS said last year. In September, it won the Emmy for outstanding talk series and received a standing ovation from the Emmys crowd.
“I want to thank CBS for giving us the privilege to be part of the late-night tradition, which I hope continues long after we’re no longer doing this show,” Colbert said in accepting the award.
CBS announced last month that Byron Allen’s “Comics Unleashed” will replace Colbert’s show in the 11:35 p.m. ET time slot.
Allen told “CBS Mornings” Wednesday that the cancellation of “The Late Show” was a “very unfortunate event” and said he will try to hold onto the late-night audience.
“I love Stephen Colbert. I’m a big fan,” Allen said.
When Colbert came on stage and broke the news of the show’s cancellation to his audience last summer, he said, “I’ve had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years.”
“It is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it,” he said.
The marquee on Broadway for “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” lit for the first time on Aug. 24, 2015. John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images
More recently, Colbert told People magazine in an interview that he tried to “never take for granted filming in the Ed Sullivan Broadway theater, having that tremendous audience or having the ability to work with the funniest people I know every day and make jokes about the things that make me most anxious.”
“You can’t do this forever. … Who knows, maybe CBS saved my life,” Colbert told People. “Because 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.”
Celebrity guests have been reflecting on what the show’s ending means to them, with Hanks saying, “I don’t know how the entertainment industrial complex is going to survive without you.”
“Thank you so much for holding the space for laughter,” Oprah Winfrey told Colbert before turning to the crowd during an episode last month. “Has he not held the space for laughter for us in our lives and been there for us?”
Watch “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on CBS television stations or stream on Paramount+.