Stephen Colbert Recalled The Phone Call He Had With CBS Head Honcho After The Late Show Got Canceled
We’re only a couple of weeks away from the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airing on the 2026 TV schedule. To put it mildly, this is a topic that people have been fascinated with since the decision was made to cancel the longtime CBS talk show. Stephen Colbert may have not fully processed his upcoming career change, but he recalled the phone call he had with his boss, where he said he wasn’t going to shy away from talking about it either.
Stephen Colbert has been as open as he can be about the impending end of his late-night show, including what he’ll miss the most and the funny texts he got from fellow hosts. With that, he divulged the contents of his conversation with CBS’ head of entertainment George Cheeks following the cancellation news. Colbert revealed to THR:
I don’t think George would mind if I characterized our conversation. It was later in the summer, and he called to express that he wished [it] had gone down a different way. I said, ‘Me too.’ And then I said, ‘I’m not over here grinding a knife, but we are going to make jokes about how this went down and about the $40 million and about CBS’ apparent check-cutting spree to the president. That’s the show I want to do for 10 more months because I like working for CBS and I’m not going to change that relationship between now and the end if you allow that to happen.’
Stephen Colbert was initially upset that George Cheeks reportedly told his manager that The Late Show was ending, but did not speak with Colbert directly until later in the summer. The host said that at that time, he made his intention known — he was going to address some people’s opinion that the cancellation was politically motivated
For context, Colbert made critical comments about CBS’ decision to settle a lawsuit with Donald Trump over a 60 Minutes interview with Kamala Harris, and the cancellation came just days later. CBS has consistently blamed finances for The Late Show getting the ax, citing an alleged loss of $40 million in a year — a number that fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel has called “beyond nonsensical.”
Meanwhile, Colbert said the figure surprised him but he had no wishes to litigate it. As for his conversation with George Cheeks, he continued:
And he said, ‘I promise you that’s what will happen.’ So that was it. And what’s the use of being mad? All I want to do is go have fun for an audience that appreciates it, and that’s what my goal has been for 10 months. When this is all over, I will probably have a different — or rather a fuller — perspective on all of this, but I don’t really have time to be mad about anything right now.
Stephen Colbert has insisted he’s too busy putting together The Late Show’s final episodes to think about much of anything else. He’s got a couple of things lined up afterward, including a Lord of the Rings script, some “much more important” family events to attend, and he’s admittedly relieved to possibly take a break from the news cycle.
It’s not over yet, though. You can still catch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert at 11:35 p.m. ET on weeknights through Thursday, May 21, on CBS.
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