Now is the midnight of our discontent. The end of The Late Show is nigh. Tonight, after 33 years of being a stalwart late night talk show presence — and dominating the ratings amidst a rapidly changing television landscape — tonight that fine legacy ends. The last Late Show airs at 11:35pm ET with one of the show’s top two best hosts ever at the helm, Stephen Colbert. Stephen has been rather gracious during this entire final season (remember CBS gave him almost a year’s notice that they were canning the whole enterprise over “fascistic financial reasons”), not trashing the network nearly as hard and fast and persistently as others would have (hi, it’s me, I’m others). People Mag has Stephen on this week’s cover to mark the bittersweet finale. The interview took place in early April and pretty much covers the span of his life. Here’s an excerpt where Stephen talks about his initial hesitancy to take the job in the first place, when he felt the role started to click, and the family that will be right there with him during the final show, and for everything after:
“I’m an actor and a writer. I became a writer because nobody would cast me in anything and I had to write for myself. I always imagined that’s what I’d be doing after The Colbert Report because that was an acting job. When I got this, at first I was like, ‘No, I can’t do that job. I’m not a standup. I’ve never been myself,’” he recalls.
But it was Colbert’s ability to show his true self that endeared him to fans. During his time on The Late Show, he opened up about grief and faith in a way that earned him viral recognition. In 2019, he spoke with CNN’s Anderson Cooper about the death of his father and two brothers, Peter and Paul, who died in a plane crash in 1974.
“Ten million people had seen [the interview] in the first 24 hours or something,” Colbert says. “I was very surprised because it’s not something that I had talked about publicly and it felt innate to my view of the world, but I didn’t realize that that experience would be so meaningful to toher people, because so many other people experienced it. It seems obvious and a very simple thing to realize, but it did take me by surprise.”
…Colbert is also known for his political commentary. When asked if he’ll miss being a part of that daily conversation, he’s quick to say, “I’ll never stop caring about my country. I’m a perfectly fine fan of me, but I am not of the opinion that if my voice is missing from the national conversation, the republic will turn awry.”
Off air, Colbert enjoys fishing, cooking, building boats and spending time with his family. This stage of fatherhood, he says, is “the best.”
“To lose an argument with an adult child over something you thought you knew about. I mean, if you can take it, it’s pretty great,” he says.
And his final week of shows will be filled with family celebrations: his son John’s college graduation and his brother Tommy’s wedding. “I’m glad a lot of the week is not about me,” he says. “It’s about the people I love more.”
Aw, Stephen’s comments about his family are sweet when you read them, but I highly recommend watching the 16-minute video of the interview. There is such joy and love in his eyes when he talks about how much he loves being a dad to adult kids now. Same with how smitten he so obviously still is with Evie (he knows he’s the lucky one). There was also a sense that he’s carried his family with him emotionally, but in a positive way, throughout his whole life and career. He talks about how his mother earned a place at Carnegie Mellon to study acting, but had to defer a year due to illness. During that year she met Stephen’s father, accepted his proposal, and gave up her place at school. But Stephen definitely credits her with first introducing him to the idea of acting. Then many years down the road when Stephen was debating whether to take The Late Show hosting gig, he met with his sister to talk it through. According to Stephen, all he said was, “So Dave Letterman is stepping down,” at which point his sister’s face broke out into a huge smile, cause she knew where Stephen was going. He didn’t even get into a discussion over whether to take the job, her smile convinced him to do it. Not only are there family events on either side of his final show, but Stephen said the extended Colbert Clan will be in the audience tonight. Of course, he wouldn’t have it any other way.
Good night, and good luck motherf–kers.
Photos credit: Xavier Collin/Image Press Agency/Avalon, Getty Images