![\"Stephen](\"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/ie\/wp-content\/uploads\/2026\/06\/colbertguestchair1500.jpg\")
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\t\t\t\t\t\tPhoto: Scott Kowalchyk\/CBS\t\t\t\t\t<\/p>\n
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The Late Show with Stephen Colbert<\/a> dominated late night ratings in Stephen Colbert<\/a>\u2019s final month behind the desk, drawing the show\u2019s largest monthly audience since its 2015 launch and more viewers than its ABC and NBC 11:35 p.m. time slot competitors combined.<\/p>\n According to Nielsen Live+7 ratings data, Colbert\u2019s Late Show averaged 4.20 million total nightly viewers in May 2026, up 49% from April. The show also led the field among adults 18\u201349, averaging 475,000 viewers in the demo, up 91% month-over-month.<\/p>\n The biggest lift came, of course, from Colbert\u2019s May 21 finale<\/a>.<\/p>\n All told, the episode averaged 9.77 million viewers, making it the program\u2019s highest-rated weeknight episode ever. Only Colbert\u2019s 2016 Sunday night post-Super Bowl broadcast drew a larger audience, with 20.81 million Live+7 viewers. Measured by share, the finale topped even that post-Super Bowl episode, with 33.32% of people watching TV at the time tuning in for Colbert\u2019s swan song, compared with 21.61% for the Super Bowl episode.<\/p>\n In the demo, Colbert\u2019s finale ranked as the show\u2019s seventh most-watched episode ever, averaging 1.58 million adults 18\u201349, while posting a series-high 26.12% share.<\/p>\n But viewers didn\u2019t only show up for the last episode. The Late Show rode a three-week farewell surge that sent Colbert out at ratings levels not seen anywhere in late night in more than a decade\u2014no small feat in a TV landscape where cord-cutting and changing viewing habits have dramatically reduced overall viewing in the late-night daypart.<\/p>\n The Late Show with Stephen Colbert \u2014 Avg Nightly Viewers by Month<\/p>\n Total Viewers 2+, Nielsen Live+7 data (panel only) \u00a0|\u00a0 Chart: LateNighter.com<\/p>\n Notably, Colbert\u2019s gains did not come at the expense of his 11:35 competitors. Though their month-long nightly averages paled in comparison to Colbert, both Jimmy Kimmel<\/a> and Jimmy Fallon<\/a> still grew their audiences month-over-month.<\/p>\n Jimmy Kimmel Live!<\/a> placed second among total viewers with 2.54 million viewers, up 2% month-over-month, while NBC\u2019s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon<\/a> averaged 1.42 million viewers, up 17%. The two shows swapped paces in the demo, with Fallon logging a nightly count of 241,000, up 19%, while Kimmel averaged 238,000, up 8%.<\/p>\n May also brought CBS\u2019s first post-Colbert numbers, as Byron Allen\u2019s Comics Unleashed<\/a> began airing in the network\u2019s former Late Show slot. Across six first-run episodes, the first half hour of Comics Unleashed at 11:35 p.m. averaged 941,000 total viewers and 98,000 adults 18\u201349. The show\u2019s second nightly episode, airing at 12:05 a.m., averaged 612,000 total viewers and 63,000 adults 18\u201349 across all telecasts. <\/p>\n At 12:35 a.m., Allen\u2019s Funny You Should Ask<\/a>, which assumed the CBS slot previously occupied by Comics Unleashed, averaged 475,000 total viewers and 54,000 adults 18\u201349. Its 1:05 a.m. half-hour averaged 404,000 total viewers and 52,000 demo viewers.<\/p>\n At 12:37 a.m., NBC\u2019s Late Night with Seth Meyers<\/a> led ABC\u2019s Nightline<\/a> in both total viewers and the demo. Meyers averaged 1.05 million total viewers, up 17% from April, and 157,000 adults 18\u201349, down 9%. Nightline averaged 911,000 total viewers, down 5%, and 78,000 adults 18\u201349, down 15%.<\/p>\n Switching to cable, Comedy Central\u2019s The Daily Show<\/a> averaged 1.08 million total viewers in May, down 10% from April, and 213,000 adults 18\u201349, down 23%.<\/p>\n