By
Updated on: May 21, 2026 / 6:04 AM EDT
/ CBS News
Add CBS News on Google
The iconic Ed Sullivan Theater marquee lights up and Stephen Colbert takes the stage one last time for the final broadcast of "The Late Show" Thursday night, before the curtain comes down on more than 30 years of late-night TV history.In the days counting down to the franchise finale, a stream of prominent guests and fellow late-night hosts took their place in the seat beside Colbert to share stories, laughs and some emotional moments. Actor Tom Hanks gifted him a typewriter. "The Daily Show" host Jon Stewart brought something to help him relax: two massage chairs and a surprise serenade from Andra Day. Colbert and David Letterman, the show's host when it debuted in 1993, hurled furniture from the set off the roof of the theater — a nod to one of Letterman's classic stunts, accompanied by some choice words for the corporate bosses."You folks wouldn't be in the theater if it weren't for me, and Stephen wouldn't be here if it weren't for me, and we rebuilt this theater, and then Stephen came in and look at this, it's like the Bellagio," Letterman said on the show last week. "As we all understand, you can take a man's show, you can't take a man's voice." David Byrne joined the show on Tuesday and he and Colbert, in matching blue suits, performed the Talking Heads classic "Burning Down the House." Bruce Springsteen, in the midst of his "Land of Hope and Dreams" tour, made a guest appearance on Wednesday.
