Stephen Colbert's 'The Late Show' Finale Pulls Record-Setting 6.74 Million Viewers

[LetMyPeopleVote]

These rating have evidently pissed off trump

Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ Finale Pulls Record-Setting 6.74 Million Viewers www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv...

— (@bobshaw-28.bsky.social) 2026-05-22T21:59:09.362Z

https://www.rollingstone.com/tv-movies/tv-movie-news/stephen-colbert-the-late-show-finale-sets-record-viewers-1235567792/

The ratings are in, and it’s official: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert went out with a bang. A record-setting 6.74 million people tuned in to the watch the finale on Thursday night, according to reports of preliminary data from Nielsen. The feat marks the show’s most-watched weeknight episode of all time.

Those historic ratings highlight a noteworthy spike from the show’s first quarter of 2026 average, which came in at 2.69 million viewers, as Variety reports. It’s also just above the The Late Show’s premiere back in 2015, which averaged 6.55 million viewers.

The historic viewing numbers come less than a year after CBS made the decision to end its late-night talk show, which Colbert had hosted for more than a decade. In August 2025, the network cited financial reasons for the perplexing move, but there continues to be speculation over the network’s true motives. CBS’ parent company, Paramount, was seeking to complete a merger with Skydance Media that needed government approval at the time. Additionally, just days before the news of the cancellation, Colbert called out Paramount for its $16 million settlement with Trump, a deal that the comedian-host dubbed “a big, fat bribe.”

Colbert closed out his beloved show with a star-studded night at New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater. Paul McCartney was the official final guest on the show, but Jon Stewart, Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, Strike Force Five, and Neil deGrasse Tyson all made cameos. McCartney also brought the house down when he performed alongside Elvis Castello, Colbert’s former bandleader Jon Batiste, and the show’s current bandleader Louis Cato to deliver a sweet rendition of the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye.”

[msongs]

1. plus millions who watched it in bits and pieces on the internet

[oasis]

2. In your face Trumpy Boy!

[sinkingfeeling]

3. I watched it this evening. The rating is what's driving TSF nuts. Colbert is popular and he isn't.

[Sympthsical]

4. Carson got 55 million for his final show

Leno got about 15 million 20 years later.

Letterman got about 14 million.

O'Brien about 10 million.

This is not to disparage Colbert (who I liked very much from his Colbert Report and Daily Show work).

It's to point out it's a dying format. I would be very surprised if any of these hosts were still there in 5 or so years. Celebrity interviews just don't matter that much in the age of podcasts, Instagram, and YouTube. When an actor is promoting a movie, you can now instantly access ten different interviews if you're really interested.

The nearest thing to monoculture that exists with social media is, "Hey, did you see that Hot Ones interview?"

Chicken wings vs. talk show hosts paid tens of millions of dollars a year - and the wings are winning.

[FascismIsDeath]

5. In this digital (possibly late stage capitalist) age, none of that really applies anymore anyway.

We watch "television" WAY differently than we use to.

[Sympthsical]

7. Absolutely

I don't think I've sat through a live version of SNL in over 15 years - back when I cut the cord - but I do watch some of the YouTube clips the next day. I accounted for social media viewing numbers as well in my consideration of these things.

But the live talk show format isn't what it was. People want everything compartmentalized and clipped up so they only get the bits they're interested in.

And paying tens of millions of dollars for a dying format doesn't make sense. This isn't to say Colbert wasn't forced out at least partially due to political pressure - he was. But these shows are borderline making zero financial sense for the networks.

Not that it's only talk shows either. Cable news is dying alongside its audience.

The balkanization of media continues apace.

Quick anecdote: A year or two ago, we bought an antenna for the tv, because we wanted to watch the Superbowl. We couldn't get a signal at all. And then we realized, there's no antenna on top of our house - the previous owners didn't see a need to ever install one. So I walked outside and looked at my neighbor's houses. One antenna. It was a married couple in their 70s. Kind of said it all right there.

[MichMan]

8. So, not even close to being a record

[RussBLib]

9. Kinda doubt anyone will ever top Carson

It’s a different world these days. You might beat Carson with “the second coming of Christ” but it would be fiction.

https://russblib.blogspot.com/?m=1

[Sympthsical]

10. It was a record for his show

It was very slightly above his debut episode.

Which, given all the publicity surrounding this, is an interesting reflection of the decline. Even with nonstop media advertising for it across every platform imaginable all year long with an almost impossible to ignore push about it the past week or two, it did slightly better than his first episode.

Which again, isn't really a slight against Colbert. It's just a testament to the form.

I think the choice of Paul McCartney was a good one - because it was a reflection of his audience.

[Cha]

6. Yay & Cancel C BS Not Make America Grotesque

Again. :

[moonbatmax]

11. Wow! With numbers like that...

...maybe CBS should think about canceling MORE shows?

Maybe they could cancel them ALL!

Just THINK of the ratings!