Stephen Colbert had a huge 2025 — and he’s got one big lesson to share after getting through it.
While speaking to Andy Cohen, 57, and Anderson Cooper, 58, during their New Year’s Eve coverage on CNN, Colbert was asked to reflect on the past 12 months.
“So much has happened in the last year of your life, I’m curious what you left last year, having learned? What was the major lesson that you learned?” Cohen asked.
In response, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host, 61, quipped, “What did I learn? Don’t trust billionaires!”
Colbert teamed up with The Traitors host Alan Cumming in April 2025 to perform a parody song “Billionaires Are Actually Good” on an episode of The Late Show.
“All these billionaires are having an outsized impact on our politics these days,” Colbert said on the show while introducing the song. He added, “So you know your government understands what you’re going through, folks. They have to buy eggs too. Fabergé eggs. But still.”
The late-night host then questioned, “Why do they also need political power and rocket launches and everyone to see them in magazines looking all jacked-up and horny?”
Colbert went on to suggest the wealthy were trying to fill an “emotional void” and that the existence of the song could help. The song’s lyric openly mocked the super-rich’s interests.
“Some people say we should eat the rich/ I don’t blame them, they look delish,” the pair sang. “Shut up buy their self-driving cars/ And if you’re lucky you’ll be their slave on Mars.”
Two months later, Colbert announced that CBS had axed The Late Show, with the final episode wrapping after the 2025/2026 season after a decade on air.
Stephen Colbert. (Photo by Michael Buckner/Variety via Getty Images)
“Before we start the show I want to let you know something that I found out just last night. Next year will be our last season, the network [CBS] will be ending The Late Show in May,” Colbert said before the taping of the July 17 episode of the show.
As the audience booed, he continued: “I share your feelings. It’s not just the end of our show but it’s the end of The Late Show on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away. I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners … And I’m grateful to the audience, you, who have joined us every night, in here, out there, and all around the world.”
Co-CEO of Paramount Global and President and Chief Executive Officer of CBS George Cheeks, President of CBS Entertainment Amy Reisenbach and President of CBS Studios David Staph addressed the cancellations in a statement at the time.
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season. We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire The Late Show franchise at that time,” the statement read. “We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television.”
Colbert spoke further about the end of his Late Show stint during an interview with GQ magazine in November 2025.
“Listen, every show’s got to end at some time,” Colbert told GQ. “And I’ve been on a bunch of shows that have ended sometimes by our lights and sometimes by the decision of other people. And that’s just the nature of show business. You can’t worry about that. You got to be a big boy about that. But I think we’re the first number one show to ever get canceled.”
That being said, Colbert admitted that he loved doing the show but will also feel a “sense of relief” that it’s ending.
“I love what we do and I love the grind,” he said. “You can only do one of these shows, do the jokes every night, year after year for 20 years, if you give a damn at all about what you’re talking about. And I do. But there is a sense of relief that I might not have to put on the snorkel and get into the sewer every day.”
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