Colbert and “The Late Show” will wrap up on May 21.

Stephen Colbert to reunite with Letterman, Kimmel, Oliver, Fallon, and Meyers for final Late Show episodes

Colbert and "The Late Show" will wrap up on May 21.

By Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence

Derek Lawrence is a former associate editor at **. He left EW in 2022.

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May 7, 2026 7:11 p.m. ET

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Stephen Colbert and David Letterman on 'The Late Show'. Credit:

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty

- Former *Late Show* host David Letterman is returning as one of Stephen Colbert's final guests.

- Colbert will also reunite with Jimmy Kimmel, John Oliver, Jimmy Fallon, and Seth Meyers.

- The series is set to end on May 21.

They're no pope, but these guys will do.

As Stephen Colbert prepares to say goodbye to *The Late Show*, he's set to reunite with his predecessor and his former podcast cohosts.

Ahead of his final show on May 21, Colbert will kick off his second to last week on Monday, May 11, by welcoming fellow late-nights hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, a.k.a. the *Strike Force Five*. During the 2023 WGA strike, Colbert and his colleagues came together for a 12-episode podcast series, with the proceeds going to their employees, who were out of work as their shows went dark.

Then, on May 14, Colbert will be joined by original *Late Show* host David Letterman, who passed the franchise on to Colbert upon his retirement in 2015.

Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Stephen Colbert, and Jimmy Fallon on the 'Strike Force Five' podcast.

strike force five

Last summer, CBS announced the cancellation of Colbert's iteration and the end of the show's historic 33-year run. "We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire *The Late Show *franchise at that time," the network said in a statement, adding that the surprising move was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night."

Reports have suggested that the network was losing upward of $40 million a year on the production. Many skeptics, however, have pointed to Skydance Media acquiring Paramount Global, the parent company of CBS, as a cause, saying the new leadership wanted to stay out of the crossfire of President Donald Trump.

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Letterman recently made headlines with his claim that Colbert was "dumped" so that he didn't make any more "trouble" for CBS. "I'm just going to go on record as saying: They're lying," Letterman declared in a *New York Times* interview on Tuesday. "Let me just add one other thing... They're lying weasels."

In addition to Letterman and the *Strike Force Five* crew, the penultimate week of *Late Show* guests will include Pedro Pascal, Billy Crystal, Ina Garten, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, and Tom Hanks.

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