For years, late-night television hosts have traded jabs, dropped by each other’s shows, and shared the odd-hours bond of keeping America laughing. So when one of those voices signs off for good, the rest of late night takes notice. Now, as The Late Show nears its final episode, Jimmy Kimmel Live! is planning a respectful send-off for Stephen Colbert.
How Jimmy Kimmel will show solidarity to Stephen Colbert when final Late Show episode airs
Proving that late-night television thrives on camaraderie as much as competition, Jimmy Kimmel is planning a heartwarming tribute to Stephen Colbert for The Late Show finale.
Kimmel told LateNighter that his ABC show will go dark next Thursday out of respect for Colbert’s finale. Breaking from its regular schedule, the show will air new episodes Monday through Wednesday, then run a repeat Thursday as Colbert signs off.
Entertainment Weekly has confirmed the same. The decision gives Colbert’s final episode on May 21, 2026, on CBS only one competing first-run show: NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.
For those unaware, Jimmy Kimmel has made this gesture before. In 2015, he held back a new episode when David Letterman said goodbye to The Late Show, not wanting to go head-to-head with a comedian he looked up to. At the time, Kimmel explained that he held too much respect for Letterman to pull audience attention from Dave’s goodbye.
Stephen Colbert holds a different role in Kimmel’s late-night world. He isn’t the childhood hero Letterman was, but a contemporary and friend. The two have stood together through late night’s rockier stretches.
Colbert’s finale marks more than the close of his 11-year tenure. It is also CBS ending The Late Show franchise altogether, the final curtain for a show that started with Letterman in 1993 and grew into a network late-night cornerstone.
Colbert’s farewell will be attended by Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, who are set to join Kimmel tonight on The Late Show for a Strike Force Five reunion. Both NBC late-night shows are dark tonight so the hosts can gather at the Ed Sullivan Theater, before Fallon and Meyers return with new episodes Tuesday through Thursday.
Originally reported by Sibanee Gogoi on ComingSoon.
