Stephen Colbert delivered these huge ratings for 'Late Show' finale

Kelly Lawler, USA TODAYFri, May 22, 2026 at 8:54 PM UTC

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It's so hard to say goodbye, but it helps to have six million people do it all together.

CBS announced Friday, May 22, that 6.74 million viewers tuned in live to watch Stephen Colbert sign off from "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" for the last time.

The May 21 finale featured a slew of celebrity guests, Paul McCartney singing "Hello Goodbye" and even a wormhole sucking Colbert into oblivion. The episode also garnered more viewers than his debut on the network back in 2015.

When Colbert's version of "The Late Show" premiered on Sept. 8, 2015, it averaged a total of 6.55 million viewers. In 2026, he was averaging 2.96 million viewers per episode (including delayed viewing), leading the pack of network TV late-night shows − with ABC’s "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" at 2.53 million viewers and NBC’s "The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" at the bottom with 1.33 million.

"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" during Thursday's May 21, 2026, finale show.Did Colbert set a record with his ratings?

Colbert did not best his own personal record for viewers, however. "Late Show" aired a post-Super Bowl episode on Feb. 7, 2016, with a 10:54 p.m. start time, which episode garnered 20.55 million viewers.

Still, the ratings are comparable to the performance of "Kimmel" in September 2025, when it returned after ABC suspended the host over backlash to comments he made about the right-wing response to the death of conservative activist Charlie Kirk.

After a week off the air, which included wall-to-wall news coverage, tweets from President Donald Trump, ABC facing harsh criticism from celebrities, politicians and international figures, and public statements from network affiliate owners and the chair of the FCC, Kimmel returned to an audience of 6.26 million viewers.

Broadcast late-night ratings are often compared to "Gutfeld" on Fox News. But while "Gutfeld" is a political comedy and talk show (with a right-wing leaning host in contrast with broadcast's left-leaning men), it is not a late-night show. It airs at 10 p.m. in the primetime window, in which more viewers are simply awake and tuning in across all network and cable channels. Shows like "Chicago PD" on NBC, or "Boston Blue" on CBS, routinely draw 3 or 4 million viewers at 10 p.m. (Gutfeld hovers around 3 million).

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After 11 years helmed by Colbert (and a 23-year run by David Letterman first), CBS is filling “The Late Show” timeslot with the syndicated comedy panel show “Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen," premiering May 22 (weekdays, 11:35 p.m. ET/PT).

How Colbert said goodbye to 'The Late Show'

At his final, emotional show − which taped and aired on May 21 − Colbert, 62, walked out with no preamble or opening sketch, saying he wanted to speak directly to the audience in the studio and at home, with a short but affecting speech thanking his crew and his audience.

After those remarks, the show began in earnest, with a series of quickly edited clips poking fun at himself, the opening credits and Colbert returning for a more "normal" show, with a typical monologue full of jokes about sinkholes and hantavirus in the news and surprise appearances from celebrities like McCartney, Ryan Reynolds,  Bryan Cranston and Paul Rudd. The final moments included Colbert and McCartney turning out the lights in the Ed Sullivan Theater.

The finale came 10 months after Colbert announced that "The Late Show" had been canceled on July 17, 2025. He revealed to his audience that he'd learned of the show's end over the phone, just the night before.At the time of the cancellation announcement, CBS’ parent company, formerly Paramount Global and now Paramount Skydance Corporation, said the choice was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night."

But some suspected Colbert’s criticisms about Trump played a role. Colbert described Paramount’s $16 million payment to Trump over a "60 Minutes" interview as a "big fat bribe."

In a recent New York Times interview, Colbert addressed the cancellation further.

“It’s possible that two things can be true,” Colbert said. “Broadcast can be in trouble. They cannot monetize because of things like YouTube, because of the competition of streaming. They’ve got the books, and I do not have any desire to debate them over what they say their business model is and how it does not work for them anymore."

Contributing: Erin Jensen, USA TODAY

This article originally appeared on USA TODAY: Stephen Colbert's 'Late Show' finale ratings revealed

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