The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is an American late-night news talk show hosted by Stephen Colbert, which premiered on September 8, 2015. The show is the second and final iteration of CBS' Late Show franchise. It is taped at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City in the same studio as its predecessor Late Show with David Letterman. It airs new episodes live to tape in most American markets Mondays to Thursdays at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT/10:35 p.m. CT, as with its competitors Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Colbert was announced as the new host in April 2014, after existing host David Letterman announced his intention to retire earlier in the month; Colbert had previously hosted Comedy Central's news satire The Colbert Report, a program where Colbert portrayed a character named Stephen Colbert as a parody of conservative pundits. As such, the series has carried a stronger focus on discussing and satirizing current events, especially within American politics. Some of Colbert's staff moved to The Late Show, along with Jon Stewart – who previously hosted The Colbert Report's parent series The Daily Show – serving as an executive producer.

The Late Show has remained the highest-rated American late-night talk show for nine consecutive seasons as of 2025, marking the longest winning streak in franchise history over its competitors; since 2019, it exceeded The Tonight Show in key demographic viewership. On July 17, 2025, CBS announced that it would be ending The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and would be retiring The Late Show franchise altogether in May 2026 after 33 years (with the first 22 seasons under David Letterman and the following 11 seasons under Colbert), describing the move as "purely a financial decision". The announcement has drawn controversy due to the show's relative popularity among late-night television, its relation to the merger of Skydance and Paramount, and perceived political motive due to criticisms of the Trump administration by Colbert.

Prior to Colbert's assumption of hosting duties, David Letterman had been host of Late Show for 22 years, dating to his arrival at CBS in 1993. CBS had not had a regular late-night talk show for most of its existence before that point, with only one attempt (the short-lived The Pat Sajak Show in 1989–1990) between 1972 and Letterman's arrival. Letterman, who joined CBS from NBC after ending his eleven-year run as host of Late Night and losing out on being Johnny Carson's successor on The Tonight Show to Jay Leno, was initially competitive with his show's bitter rival, The Tonight Show with Jay Leno; Letterman's Late Show slowly experienced a decline in ratings over the course of the 1990s and 2000s, dating back to an affiliation agreement between New World Communications and Fox that resulted in all nine CBS-affiliated stations it owned or recently acquired switching to Fox between September and December 1994, relegating the network to lower-rated former Fox affiliates and independent stations in many major cities.

According to TV by the Numbers, in February 2013, the live-plus-seven-day ratings for Letterman's Late Show averaged about 3.1 million per show for the 2012–2013 season to date. A year later, average viewership was down to 2.8 million. Late Show also had the oldest audience among the various late-night talk shows, which may have led to CBS' decision to pick a younger replacement for Letterman to compete with The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and ABC's Jimmy Kimmel Live!. In addition, Colbert's previous program did well among college students and young men 18–34, which are prime target audiences for late-night comedy programming.

On April 3, 2014, Letterman announced his retirement, with his final episode as host of Late Show scheduled for May 20, 2015. On April 10, 2014, CBS announced Stephen Colbert as Letterman's successor, signing him to a five-year agreement. In contrast with Colbert's previous program The Colbert Report, in which he played a fictionalized version of himself, Colbert hosts the show as himself. Colbert's version retains the Late Show name under license from Letterman's Worldwide Pants, which holds the registered trademark. On April 23, 2014, the character version of Stephen Colbert appeared on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart to announce that he had clearly "won television" and would be closing down The Colbert Report because he had met his goal. This came after the announcement the character would not be used after the end of The Colbert Report. The final episode of Report aired on December 18, 2014.

There were efforts to lure a new version of The Late Show from its long-time home at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, with California lawmakers offering tax incentives to bring production to Los Angeles. On July 23, 2014, CBS CEO Les Moonves announced that the program would remain in New York City; CBS would be eligible for $11 million in tax credits over five years to produce the program there, and would also receive grants to fund renovations to the theater. Jon Batiste was announced as the bandleader on June 4, 2015, with his Stay Human band succeeding the CBS Orchestra (which returned to its previous identity as the World's Most Dangerous Band shortly thereafter) as the house band.

In anticipation of the program's premiere, a new online presence was launched for The Late Show in June 2015, including new social media accounts, a podcast, mobile app, and a monologue-styled video focusing on the beard Colbert had grown since leaving The Colbert Report. Throughout the remainder of the summer, videos would continue to be released through the show's official YouTube channel and mobile app. On July 1, 2015, Colbert hosted a special edition of a public access program in Monroe, Michigan, interviewing Eminem.