Stephen Colbert opened up about the moment he learned his long-running “Late Show” had been canceled, telling Jimmy Kimmel the news came from his manager, James “Baby Doll” Dixon, in a meeting that immediately felt unusual.
“Fifteen minutes in person? What the hell is this about?” Colbert recalled, saying he even warned his wife he’d be home late. Hours later, he walked into their apartment. “She goes, ‘What happened? You get canceled?’ I said, ‘Yes, I did.’”
Colbert said Dixon had delayed delivering the news until he returned from a European vacation, not wanting to ruin the trip. Once home, his wife pushed him to tell his staff the very next day. “I said, ‘I don’t think I’m up for it,’” he admitted. But she insisted, even accompanying him to the studio. “By the time I get to my offices, I have sweat through my shirt,” Colbert said.
At first, he only confided in executive producer Tom Purcell before taping. He explained he didn’t want the rest of his team to feel deflated before the show. “So the people who work on this, a couple like ‘Baby’ knew and Carrie knew and Evie knew, but I didn’t tell anybody else,” he said.
After finishing that night’s broadcast, he held the audience back, planning to record a message about the cancellation. But his stage manager reminded him the taping was done. Instead, he gathered his staff on a Zoom call and told them directly. “I didn’t want to have access to information that they didn’t,” he explained.
CBS announced on July 18 that the “Late Show” will end in May 2026, stressing the decision was “purely financial” and not tied to content or performance.
Reports later revealed the show has been costing CBS more than $40 million annually, with a budget exceeding $100 million per season — a sharp contrast to the network’s daytime and primetime programming, which remain profitable.