Stephen Colbert may be saying goodbye to his own late-night fanchise — but he’s not leaving TV altogether.
With The Late Show with Stephen Colbert scheduled to end in May 2026, the veteran host has secured a creative pivot: a guest role playing a late-night talk show host on CBS’ crime-comedy drama Elsbeth. Colbert will appear in season 3 as Scotty Bristol, host of the fictional Way Late with Scotty Bristol. The casting was reportedly in the works long before the cancellation was announced.
Filming for the episode took place in New York, and the appearance is slated as part of Elsbeth’s third-season premiere on Oct. 12, immediately following a CBS NFL game broadcast. The cameo follows a playful exchange in February between Colbert and Elsbeth co-star Wendell Pierce, during which Colbert jokingly lobbied for a guest spot.
On July 18, CBS confirmed that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would conclude at the end of the upcoming broadcast season — and Colbert will not be replaced afterward. According to the network, the decision was driven purely by finances, not the show’s performance or content.
Despite the clarification, the announcement did little to calm outraged liberals who believe it was no coincidence that Colbert’s pink slip came just two days after he publicly condemned the settlement between CBS’ parent company and President Trump.
Network executives cited the challenges of sustaining a legacy late-night franchise in today’s changing TV landscape. They emphasized Colbert’s show had strong ratings and relevance, dismissing any content-based reasons or Paramount-related issues.
“It is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount,” the network said in a statement. “Our admiration, affection and respect for the talents of Stephen Colbert and his incredible team made this agonizing decision even more difficult.”
In early July 2025, Paramount Global settled Trump’s lawsuit over the October 2024 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, for $16 million, funding Trump’s legal fees and presidential library, without apologizing, and as part of broader business considerations linked to its merger plans.
Colbert derided the settlement as a “big fat bribe.”
Trump said the following morning that he was thrilled by the news.
“I absolutely love that Colbert’ got fired,” the president wrote in a post on Truth Social. “His talent was even less than his ratings.”
The president also took aim at ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Tonight Show host Jimmy Fallon, while praising Fox News’s Greg Gutfeld, whose talk show Gutfeld! airs an hour earlier than the major late-night shows.
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Am I the only one who thinks he is a prototypical leftist whiner? Apparently he is so out of touch with real America that he doesn’t realize that most of us get 2 weeks notice and ‘maybe’ a bit of severance compensation, he got a year notice and likely a hefty payout. Likely not quite a golden parachute like too many bureaucrats receive after tanking a company but way more than us deplorables have gotten. Full disclosure: I live okay on my disability pension but I don’t have champagne tastes on a Dr. Pepper budget 😉
BTW – I do not consider him at all funny and could probably be just as snarky as he is but since I’d target the left that ain’t gonna happen.