How Jimmy Kimmel Is Supporting Stephen Colbert for Late Show Finale

Jimmy Kimmel‘s studio will be pretty quiet for one night in particular.

When Stephen Colbert hosts his last episode of The Late Show on May 21st after 11 seasons, Jimmy Kimmel Live! will air a rerun instead of a new show, as Kimmel himself confirmed.

ABC will have new episodes from May 18th to 20th, but Jimmy Kimmel announced his show won’t be airing new content during that time to avoid clashing with Stephen Colbert’s final show.

As Stephen Colbert prepares to finish his run on The Late Show, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers from Late Night, Jimmy Fallon of The Tonight Show, and John Oliver from Last Week Tonight will all appear together on CBS on May 11th. Joining the farewell celebration, David Letterman—the original host of Late Night from 1982-1993—will make a guest appearance on the May 14th episode.

Jimmy Kimmel has decided to air a rerun of his show, a move he also made in 2015 for David Letterman’s last show. This comes after his own show was briefly paused in September due to criticism over comments he made following the death of Charlie Kirk.

Although CBS, now owned by Skydance Media and led by David Ellison (a supporter of Donald Trump), claimed the cancellation of The Late Show in July 2025 was simply about money, Stephen Colbert’s fellow comedians strongly criticized the decision.

Jimmy Kimmel, 58, shared a message on Instagram saying “Love you Stephen,” and then criticized the numerous Big Bang Theory spin-offs, ending with a frustrated “Fk you and all your Sheldons CBS.”

Meanwhile, Meyers, 52, reflected on his bond with the Colbert Report alum over the years.

Following the announcement, one person shared on Instagram how much they admire Stephen Colbert, not just as a funny and talented host, but as a genuinely good person. They said they’ll miss seeing him on TV nightly, but are happy he’ll now have more time to spend with friends, joking that he can’t use being busy as an excuse anymore.

For Colbert’s part, he was taken aback by the decision but didn’t plan to fight the cancellation.

I was surprised by it,” the 61-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter in a May 6th interview. “It’s clear that traditional broadcasting is facing major challenges. However, late-night television, specifically, has remained profitable for around 70 years.”

He added that they might have been the first show to actually hurt the trend it started, perhaps the first to go too far in the opposite direction. He didn’t want to dwell on it, though, saying it was up to the network to decide what they wanted to do.

Keep reading to see which shows will or won’t be returning to the small screen…

Following the announcement, someone posted on Instagram saying that Stephen Colbert is not only a fantastic comedian and host, but an even more wonderful person. They added that while they’ll miss seeing him on TV nightly, they’re happy he’ll finally have time to socialize, joking that he can no longer use being busy as an excuse to avoid hanging out.

For Colbert’s part, he was taken aback by the decision but didn’t plan to fight the cancellation.

I was surprised by it,” the 61-year-old told The Hollywood Reporter in a May 6th interview. “It’s clear traditional broadcasting is facing major challenges. However, late-night talk shows, specifically, have been consistently profitable for around 70 years.”

He added that perhaps their show was the first to actually have a negative impact, or to change things for the worse. He didn’t want to dwell on it, though, saying it was up to the network to decide what they wanted to do.

Keep reading to see which shows will or won’t be returning to the small screen…

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2026-05-11 20:22

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