Late Night Hosts Tell Colbert He Can Host Their Shows Anytime

Stephen Colbert isn’t going quietly. With just days left before The Late Show goes dark on May 21, he pulled off one of the most memorable tapings of his run — gathering Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers on his stage for a late-night summit that was equal parts roast, reunion, and goodbye.

The mood was warm but the jokes were sharp. When Colbert reflected that ending the show was a “bummer” because he’d wanted to keep going with his crew, he quickly pivoted to the silver lining: “Now I can be a guest on all your shows.”

Kimmel didn’t miss a beat. “You can host my show,” he shot back. Colbert asked if he could step in during the summer, and Kimmel told him he could be there all year. Fallon echoed the offer, saying Colbert was welcome on The Tonight Show “anytime you want to go on” — then, when Colbert pressed him for an actual date, Fallon grinned and said, “Enjoy a little time off.”

Trump, Melania, and the Group Chat

The conversation turned to the elephant in the room — or rather, the one posting on Truth Social during their shows. Colbert asked his fellow hosts whether, as young comedians coming up, any of them imagined they’d be doing jobs that the President of the United States would have “strong feelings about.”

Kimmel, who has been in Trump’s crosshairs more than once, went there immediately. “You know what’s even weirder? Doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about.” That was a nod to the moment in April when both Trump and Melania called for Kimmel’s suspension after he joked she had a “glow like an expectant widow.”

Meyers quipped: “Most of us have avoided that part.”

Oliver then revealed that he found out about Kimmel’s Melania situation through their late-night group chat — yes, there is a late-night group chat. “It’s an amazing thing to get, in a group text, a text from Jimmy saying, ‘Oh, boy.’ And then a picture of Melania mad at him,” Oliver said, laughing.

Meyers had perhaps the most perfectly deadpan take on the whole Trump-watching-late-night phenomenon. “The thing I like, he posts when the show airs, and I want to say I appreciate that he is watching linear television,” he said. “If I would make my case for late-night, it’s that leaders of the free world are watching it when it airs.”

Making the Case for Late-Night

Colbert also asked his guests to make a case for the genre, which has taken its hits in recent years. Kimmel pointed to the audience loyalty he witnessed firsthand when Jimmy Kimmel Live! was briefly pulled off the air last September following controversy over comments he made about political activist Charlie Kirk’s shooting.

“We have a lot of shows. 30,000 people watching each one, and it adds up,” Kimmel said. “People watch us on YouTube now. People have a lot of different options and they keep coming to us. I will tell you, when I got knocked off the air for a few days, people canceled Disney+. Why aren’t people canceling Paramount+? Because you never had it in the first place?”

That last line hit differently given the context. CBS announced the cancellation of The Late Show back in July, calling it “purely a financial decision” — though the timing raised eyebrows. It came shortly after Colbert made a joke about CBS paying a $16 million settlement to Trump over a lawsuit alleging “deceptive editing” in a 60 Minutes episode, and while Paramount’s merger with David Ellison’s Skydance was still awaiting FCC approval.

What Comes Next — and What Letterman Said

The 11:35 p.m. slot won’t go to another traditional late-night host. CBS has handed it to producer Byron Allen, who will air back-to-back half-hour episodes of Comics Unleashed, followed by the comedy game show Funny You Should Ask at 12:37 a.m.

Colbert, characteristically gracious, said he personally reached out to Allen the morning after the announcement. “God bless him. I know Byron. We got to know each other last year, actually. He’s fascinating. You know his history with Carson?” Colbert told The Hollywood Reporter, referencing the fact that Allen became the youngest comic ever to perform on The Tonight Show Starring Johnny Carson at just 18 years old. Colbert joked that he told Allen it would be “lovely” if he could drop Carson a note — a wink at the fact that Johnny Carson died in 2005.

As for whether he minded the slot not going to a traditional late-night successor? “It’s none of my business,” Colbert said simply.

Not everyone has been so measured about the whole thing. David Letterman, who will be among Colbert’s final guests before the May 21 finale, has been the loudest voice calling out CBS over the cancellation. In a recent interview, Letterman accused the network’s leadership of engineering Colbert’s exit as part of the Skydance deal — and he didn’t mince words.

“He was dumped because the people selling the network to Skydance said, ‘Oh no, there’s not going to be any trouble with that guy. We’re going to take care of the show. We’re just going to throw that into the deal. When will the ink on the check dry?’” Letterman said. “I’m just going to go on record as saying: They’re lying. Let me just add one other thing, Jason. They’re lying weasels.”

Colbert’s final episode airs Thursday, May 21 on CBS. After more than a decade behind that desk, he’ll leave with his crew, his peers, and apparently an open invitation to guest host pretty much anywhere he wants — though Fallon would prefer he take a vacation first.