Dem
47
GOP
53
Way back in July of last year, when Late Night with Stephen Colbert was canceled to please Donald Trump
to save money, Colbert said he had no intention of changing what he does, and that he would continue speaking truth to
power right up to the end. He was as good as his word, right up through the final episode, which aired Thursday.
The broadcast got the highest ratings of any late-night Colbert broadcast (and is second overall to an episode that aired right after the Super Bowl). That said, if any reader has not seen it, and would like to, CBS has posted the entire hour-long show here.
It was, on the whole, very well done. There was a running bit in which various celebrity guests (Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tim Meadows, etc.) thought they were going to be the final Colbert interview, and then were angry and/or disappointed when they learned that was not the case. There was also an extended set piece about a black hole that sucks "canceled" people into the void. Neil deGrasse Tyson and Andy Cohen, among others, made cameos and got sucked into the void. Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers also showed up, to explain how the void works, but did not get sucked in. Though, Kimmel noted, a similar void showed up on the set of his show for a few days last year.
The actual final guest was, in fact, Sir Paul McCartney. He and Colbert chatted a bit about how change is both annoying and inevitable. And McCartney also closed the show with "Hello, Goodbye," backed by a band that included Colbert on harmonies, Elvis Costello, and the Late Night house band. Eventually, the entire audience was allowed up on stage, along with the cast and crew, turning it into a several-hundred-person "Hello, Goodbye" sing-a-long.
A couple of weeks ago, we wrote about the Netflix is a Joke benefit for autism, and included the observation that "the thought that occurred even more frequently is that these are all fundamentally very decent people." The same thought occurred during the final Late Show episode (which, it should be noted, involved some of the exact same people). As with Conan O'Brien in his final Tonight Show episode, which also occurred under difficult circumstances, Colbert was nothing but positive. Somewhat ironically, given Donald Trump's seething hatred, the final show featured virtually no political talk. And the political talk it DID have came mostly from Sir Paul. It was particularly generous for the other late night hosts to show up to toast Colbert; the ones who air new episodes on Thursday nights specifically arranged for re-runs to air against the final Late Show, so that he would have the spotlight as much as is possible. Even if you are not inclined to watch the whole episode, at least consider watching the "Hello, Goodbye" segment, which is only 5 minutes or so:
Nothing but pure joy.
Colbert already has his next project lined up; he's going to work on a Lord of the Rings adaptation with his son. And though a podcast had not yet been announced, it seems inevitable. In any event, he had a very nice run during what looks to be the final era of late-night TV as we once knew it. Congrats to him and his crew.
Have a good weekend, all! (Z)