Stephen Colbert reveals regret for ‘The Late Show’

Stephen Colbert mentioned that he wishes he was leaving The Late Show on his own terms.

The 61-year-old comedian has hosted The Late Show, the CBS talk show, since September 2015, but regrets that the programme is getting axed due to costs.

When he was asked if it would look like if he was going out on his own terms, Stephen told The Hollywood Reporter, "I mean, a lot like this — I’d just be a little older. And it would have been my choice, and I probably would have known what the final show was going to be a little bit earlier."

Stephen hosted The Colbert Report from 2005 to 2014, and he's thankful that he got to leave that show when he wanted to.

He reflected, "On The Colbert Report, I picked that day — I didn’t tell anybody, but I knew two years ahead of time. Well, we didn’t pick this day.”

"We know what it’ll be now, but it took a few months. But maybe they gave me a gift because I had a lot of jokes I could make about the end of the show, and if I’d decided to end the show, then I’m the bad guy — hard to make jokes about that,” Stephen further mentioned.

The axing of The Late Show was announced in July 2025 and the comedian confirmed that CBS had pulled the plug on his nightly talk show, with the final episode set to air in May.

He said, "Before we start the show, I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season, the network will be ending The Late Show in May."

Stephen Colbert, who replaced Letterman at the helm in 2015 also added at that time, "I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners … And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there, and all around the world."