Stephen Colbert left the desk of The Late Show after nearly eleven years and 1,801 episodes. His final broadcast on CBS on May 21 began with a sincere two-minute speech thanking the audience for a reciprocal emotional relationship. He told viewers to have a good show, thanked them for being there, and emphasized doing the show with them. The opening monologue played like a typical monologue while featuring celebrity cameos, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Tim Meadows, each reacting humorously about being the last guest. Later segments included technical glitches and cosmic-sounding problems, leading to a final sketch about an all-devouring green wormhole harming other late-night studios.
"We love doing this show for you, but what we really, really love, is doing this show with you. Colbert said, who immediately took a silent pause-a safe assumption Colbert had to compose himself or else derail the night's energy with premature tears. I'll say to you what I've said to every audience for the last eleven years and I've meant it every time: Have a good show, thanks for being here, and let's do it, y'all."
"Then came an opening monologue that, despite the weight of its finality, Colbert insisted on it playing like another typical monologue. And it was mostly that, save for the parade of celebrity cameos like Bryan Cranston (who threw a fit that he wasn't the last guest of the evening), Paul Rudd (who, with a banana in his mouth, also threw a fit that he wasn't the last guest), and Tim Meadows (who, in his own fit, stole Rudd's bananas)."
"Throughout the rest of the broadcast leading up to Colbert's actual final interview with Paul McCartney, the set was plagued by technical glitches and freaky, cosmic aberrations. It led to one of the final sketches for Late Show's storied history, in which Colbert finds an all-devouring green wormhole plaguing other late-night TV studios."
Read at Esquire
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