Stephen Colbert Announces His First Late Night Return Following His Show’s End
Stephen Colbert Announces His First Late Night Return Following His Show’s End
Manoj ChekkillaThu, September 10, 2026 at 10:51 PM UTC
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Image credit: YouTube / @ColbertLateShow
Stephen Colbert is returning to late-night television for the first time since his CBS show wrapped up earlier this year. However, the beloved host won’t be the one behind the desk this time.
According to LateNighter, Colbert will appear as a guest on Jimmy Kimmel Live! this Tuesday, September 15. This marks his first late-night appearance since The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired its last episode in May. The 62-year-old last appeared on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in 2025, when he and Kimmel made a special late-night crossover by appearing on each other’s shows.
Colbert’s guest appearance comes just one night after Colbert and Kimmel compete for the Outstanding Variety Series category at the 78th Emmy Awards. Both famous late-night talk-show hosts are nominated alongside The Daily Show, Last Week Tonight with John Oliver, and Saturday Night Live. This year’s Emmy Awards will air on Monday, September 14.
Why did Stephen Colbert’s late night show end?
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended on May 21, 2026, closing out both Colbert’s 11-year run and the Late Show franchise’s 33-year history on CBS. The broadcast network announced the cancellation in July 2025, describing it as “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night.”
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The decision attracted significant controversy across the television industry. The show had remained the highest-rated American late-night talk show for nine consecutive seasons. It also landed close to the Skydance-Paramount merger, fueling further speculation about the network’s reasoning. CBS subsequently sold the time slot to Byron Allen’s Allen Media Group.
Jimmy Kimmel was among the fellow hosts who helped Colbert celebrate his final weeks on CBS. Kimmel joined alongside Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver on the May 11 episode. The group previously formed the Strike Force Five podcast during the 2023 Writers Guild of America strike.
Apart from his 2025 visit, Colbert has visited Jimmy Kimmel Live! as a guest four times, in 2004, 2010, 2012, and 2017. This will be his sixth visit to the show.
Originally reported on ComingSoon.net.
The post Stephen Colbert Announces His First Late Night Return Following His Show’s End appeared first on Mandatory.
Source: “AOL Entertainment”
