Goodbye “Late Night”!

When CBS announced on July 17, 2025 that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert would wrap up in May 2026, it marked the end of a franchise that began in 1993 and became a late‑night anchor for multiple generations.

Stephen Colbert—who took over from David Letterman in 2015—signed off on nearly 1,700 episodes, blending sharp political satire with the warm intimacy of the Ed Sullivan Theatre. Though the network insists the cancellation was “purely a financial decision,” audiences and pundits alike recognize it as the close of a late‑night era.

But to understand what’s at stake, you have to go back to August 30, 1993, when David Letterman launched The Late Show on CBS, exiled from NBC only after Jay Leno won the Tonight Show slot. Letterman’s irreverent monologues and off‑beat stunts—backed by Paul Shaffer’s CBS Orchestra—quickly made him the unofficial spokesman for Generation X: young adults eager for humor that skewered the polished norms of mainstream TV. Gen Xers found in Letterman’s “Top Ten” lists and backstage asides a reflection of their own ironic worldview, turning the 11:35 p.m. hour into a communal ritual.

For many in their late 40s and early 50s today that nightly ritual remains vividly alive in memory. They recall gathering around mismatched sofas, armed with cans of soda or take‑out, waiting for Letterman’s sly grin and Colbert’s deadpan punchlines. That continuity—from Letterman’s baby‑boomer‑influenced edge to Colbert’s Gen X‑and‑millennial fusion—ultimately shaped how late night sculpted cultural conversation for three decades. With the final curtain set for May 2026, CBS isn’t just retiring a show; it’s bidding farewell to a defining echo chamber for a generation that grew up watching TV after dark—and never looked at late night the same way again.

Goodbye, “Late Night”!

Doug O’Brien