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It's the end of an era for late-night TV."The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" is airing its series finale Thursday, May 21, bringing the comedian's nearly 11-year run to a close and ending the late-night program that David Letterman began in 1993. CBS announced its controversial decision to cancel "The Late Show" in July.Colbert began his "Late Show" run in September 2015, taking over after Letterman stepped away from the desk earlier that year.The end of "The Late Show," over what CBS has described as financial difficulties, is a major shift in the late-night comedy landscape and a troubling sign for a format that has been a television staple for decades. All eyes are on what Colbert, a vocal critic of President Donald Trump, will say amid continued questions about whether the cancellation of his show was politically motivated.And if Colbert's star-studded penultimate episode is any indication, there are sure to be plenty of surprise guests waiting in the wings.Follow along for live updates on Colbert's "Late Show" series finale.When is Colbert's last show on CBS?The final episode begins airing on CBS at 11:35 p.m. ET.Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, whose shows air opposite Colbert's, will both be airing reruns on May 21 out of respect for Colbert's last show. Starting on May 22, CBS is replacing "The Late Show" with Byron Allen's "Comics Unleashed," a comedy panel show.Colbert's final guests include Obama, Jon Stewart, Bruce Springsteen performanceDuring Colbert's final weeks on "The Late Show," he interviewed former President Barack Obama, reunited with his old "Daily Show" boss Jon Stewart, and brought Letterman back to his old stomping grounds. The former "Late Show" host joined Colbert for a segment where they gleefully threw things off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater, reviving a bit from Letterman's run.On May 20, Colbert's penultimate show included a performance from Bruce Springsteen, who said that the comedian is the "first guy in America who lost his show because we've got a president who can't take a joke."CBS cancels Stephen Colbert's showCBS announced the cancellation of "The Late Show" in July, with parent company Paramount Global saying it was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night." Critics, though, have questioned whether politics played a part in the move.Colbert is an outspoken critic of President Donald Trump, and the cancellation was announced while Paramount was going through a merger with Skydance Media that required Trump administration approval.The cancellation of Colbert's show has sparked widespread outcry in the entertainment industry and led to conversations about whether late-night television will remain a viable genre in the years to come or whether the format could be on its last legs.In a speech last year, former "Conan" host Conan O'Brien predicted that "late-night television, as we have known it since around 1950, is going to disappear."
