Strike Force Five Reunites on Late Show for One Last Time

There are nights in late-night television that remind you exactly why the format matters. Monday was one of them.

Strike Force Five — Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver — reassembled on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert for what felt like the most emotionally loaded half hour of TV this year. With Colbert’s series finale just nine days away, his four fellow hosts showed up on that famous Ed Sullivan Theater stage and turned a farewell into something that felt genuinely alive.

Colbert introduced them as “four of my best television friends and co-hosts of the awards-ignored podcast” — and from the moment they walked through the curtain, it was pure, unfiltered late-night magic. Fallon immediately rallied everyone for a group photo. Meyers slid into his signature pretend-smarm. Oliver was practically giddy the whole time, giggling at nearly everything but snapping to attention when a punchline needed landing. And Kimmel — well, Kimmel dropped a joke about a “young wife dying” as a metaphor for the show’s cancellation that reportedly almost knocked people out of their chairs. “It’s sad, is what I’m saying,” he deadpanned. “It’s such a tragedy.”

Where Strike Force Five Began — and Where It’s Going

For anyone who needs the origin story: Strike Force Five was born in May 2023, when the WGA strike shut down Hollywood and left five late-night hosts suddenly without writers or a show. Rather than go quiet, they started meeting weekly on Zoom — and those conversations became a podcast. Twelve episodes, all candid and funny and a little chaotic, with revenue going directly to support their out-of-work staff. “Strike Force Five is and always will be a group of five individuals who went on strike along with their writers, who were paying their writers,” Kimmel explained on air. “We did a podcast that paid a tiny portion of that.”

The show may have wrapped after the strikes ended, but the group text chain never did. Oliver mentioned getting a message from Kimmel that simply said “Oh boy” — followed by a photo of Melania Trump furious at him after he called her an “expectant widow” on his show. “Most of us have avoided that part,” Meyers quipped.

All five agreed they never quite anticipated becoming regular targets of a sitting president. Trump, who frequently calls for late-night hosts to be fired, apparently watches the shows in real time before posting about them on social media. Meyers found the silver lining: “I appreciate that he is watching linear television. 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 has grown visibly frustrated in recent months at being asked to defend late-night television’s relevance — a question that feels particularly pointed given his show is ending while others survive. On Monday, the group tackled it head-on.

Kimmel pushed back on the doom narrative hard. “Look at the figures,” he said. “More people are watching late-night television now than when Johnny Carson was on” — counting YouTube and streaming alongside traditional TV numbers. He also pointed out that when ABC briefly pulled him off air in 2025 following his comments about Charlie Kirk, viewers canceled Disney+ in protest. Then, with perfect Kimmel timing, he turned to the audience: “Why aren’t you people canceling Paramount+? Because you didn’t have it in the first place?”

Fallon kept it simple: “Late night is one of those things that has been around our whole lives. People want to go to sleep having a good laugh and go to bed happy.”

But honestly, no argument any of them made was more convincing than the segment itself.

Confessions, Kisses, and a Surprise Announcement

The night wrapped with a round of Strike Force Five confessions — specifically, which hosts had kissed one of their guests. Kimmel owned up to kissing Regis Philbin. “Not only did I kiss Regis, but he chewed my gum,” he said. Colbert, apparently, has been busy: Helen Mirren, Sally Field, Allison Janney, Jeff Daniels, and Andrew Garfield all made the list. “Jane Fonda and I did not make out,” he added, “but she stuck her tongue in my ear.”

Then came the news nobody saw coming. As the group moved in for a final group hug on Colbert’s desk, he announced that an emergency Strike Force Five episode would be recorded immediately after the show — and made available Wednesday, May 13. Both Colbert and Kimmel confirmed it on Instagram: “Emergency @strikeforcefive episode loading! ⚡”

The new episode will be available on their YouTube channel, Spotify, and wherever podcasts are found. And in keeping with the spirit of the original run, proceeds will go to World Central Kitchen, José Andrés’ nonprofit that provides meals during humanitarian crises.

Kimmel also confirmed separately that he’ll air a repeat on May 21 — going dark that night “out of deference to Colbert’s sendoff.” David Letterman, Colbert’s predecessor at the Late Show desk, is set to appear on Thursday’s episode.

There was something bittersweet about watching these four men show up to celebrate — and quietly mourn — what Colbert built. It felt, as one observer put it, like a sitcom character running into old guest stars in the final few episodes. A sendoff dressed up as a party.

But if Colbert has to go out, this is how you do it. And at least now we know who has the highest rating on Wikifeet.