American comedian David Letterman, who once hosted ‘The Late Show,’ roasted CBS for ending the iconic, most-watched late-night satire programme.
CBS recently announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end its 10-year run in May 2026. Colbert took over as host in 2014, following David Letterman’s 22-year tenure.
CBS said the decision was “purely financial,” and “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”
In an apparent dig at the channel, Letterman shared a montage of the many times he had roasted his own network over the years, when he was still working for CBS.
“You can’t spell CBS without BS,” the caption on the video read.
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Check out the video here:
Colbert said the show would be retired, emphasising that the 61-year-old comedian was not being replaced. “I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” he said.
Jon Stewart, ‘The Late Show’ veteran, lambasted CBS for cancelling the program.
“The fact that CBS didn’t try to save their No. 1 rated late-night franchise that’s been on the air for over three decades is part of what’s making everybody wonder … was this purely financial or maybe the path of least resistance for your $8 billion merger,” Stewart said on his Comedy Central program.
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Ever since the news, several comedians have appeared on Colbert’s show.
During a spoof of the now-famous “Coldplay cam” on Monday, NBC’s Jimmy Fallon, HBO’s John Oliver, and Comedy Central’s Jon Stewart joined the crowd of The Late Show.
“Some people see this show going away as a sign of something truly dire,” Colbert said Monday night.
“While I am a big fan of me, I don’t necessarily agree with that statement,” he continued. “Because we here at ‘The Late Show’ never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day.”
Colbert also took a dig at CBS for ending the show for “purely financial” reasons. Through humour, he raised an eyebrow at news reports about the show becoming unprofitable, though he didn’t directly dispute that.
“Folks, I’m going to go ahead and say it: Cancel culture has gone too far,” he quipped.
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Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, is seeking approval from the US Federal Communications Commission for an $8.4 billion merger with Skydance Media.
This month, Paramount agreed to settle a lawsuit filed by Republican President Donald Trump over an interview with his former Democratic challenger, Kamala Harris, that CBS’s ‘60 Minutes’ broadcast in October.
Senator Adam Schiff of California, a Democrat, was a guest on a recent episode of the show. He said, “If Paramount and CBS ended the Late Show for political reasons, the public deserves to know. And deserves better.”