Stephen Colbert’s Final ‘Late Show’ Draws Most Weeknight Viewers of His Tenure

'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' during Thursday’s May 21, 2026 show. Scott Kowalchyk/CBS Logo text

The final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew 6.74 million viewers for CBS on Thursday, the most-ever for a weeknight episode, according to preliminary Nielsen data.

That’s more than double the season average, with the Late Show generally drawing between 2.4 million and 2.7 million viewers an episode this past season, which was its last on CBS. It is however only about half the viewers that David Letterman saw for his farewell episode in 2015, when 13.7 million viewers tuned in.

Still, the nearly seven million viewer figure is the best ever for a weeknight edition of the program during Colbert’s run. The Late Show once aired a post-Super Bowl episode (Feb. 7, 2016) on a Sunday night, which averaged 20.55 million viewers, while the series premiere of the Colbert Late Show averaged 6.55 million total viewers. For the now-wrapped season, The Late Show averaged 2.69 million viewers.

As with Letterman’s final show, Colbert’s final show was star-studded, with appearances by the likes of Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows, and a closing performance led by Paul McCartney.

CBS announced last summer in a shock move that it would cancel the Late Show after the current season, citing the challenges economics of the timeslot. Byron Allen will take over 11:30 with his Comics Unleashed series in a time-buy arrangement with CBS.

The finale numbers, while strong compared to a typical episode, do underscore how viewing habits have changed. Colbert’s final monologue has gathered 2.9 million views and counting on YouTube, while the musical performance with McCartney is at 1.1 million views and growing. Millions more have watched clips on platforms like TikTok and Reels. Those numbers aren’t apples to apples, of course, but they are a big part of why and how late night’s modus operandi has changed.

And as of Friday, there is one less network, and one less show, in the game.