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The series finale of “The Late Show” aired on Thursday, in a love fest largely devoid of swipes at CBS, which had announced the cancellation last year, citing financial reasons. The host Stephen Colbert addressed his audience in studio ahead of the show as he normally would, but included home viewers this time, to share how the staff have referred to the show as “the joy machine.” The bandleader Louis Cato called theirs “a reciprocal emotional relationship” with the audience.
“That’s exactly right,” Colbert said. “Because we love doing this show for you, but what we really, really love is doing this show with you.”
“Now, on night one of ‘The Colbert Report’ back in the day, I said, ‘Anyone can read the news to you, I promise to feel the news at you.’ And I realized pretty soon in this job that our job over here was different. We were here to feel the news with you, and I don’t know about you, but I sure have felt it.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
The episode officially opened with a superstar mash-up of late night hosts past and present to introduce Colbert for the last time.
“If you’re just tuning in to ‘The Late Show,’ you missed a lot,” Colbert said at the top of his monologue.
He expressed his gratitude for getting to be a part of history at the Ed Sullivan Theater, where “The Beatles made their American debut here, and this is true — this is true: Backstage, Elvis used the bathroom and didn’t die.”
“Can’t take this for granted. Though, actually technically our first show in July of 2015 was from a public-access station in Monroe, Michigan, for an audience of 12 people, and show business being what it is these days, that’s probably where you’ll see me next.” — STEPHEN COLBERT
His famous friends Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows interrupted Colbert’s monologue, each hoping to be his final guest. Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds popped up in the audience, too, during Colbert’s regular segment, “Meanwhile.”
Keeping the joke going, Colbert’s supposed finale plans were thwarted when his intended final guest, an unseen “Pope Leo,” refused to come out of his dressing room. Luckily, Paul McCartney just happened to be hanging around the theater and made for a “perfect last guest.”
McCartney gave Colbert a framed, signed photo of The Beatles playing on the same stage for the first time in 1964.
“Wow,” Colbert said, then, pretending to read aloud: “To Stephen, you’re better than The Beatles, Paul McCartney.”
As the episode neared its end, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jon Stewart and Andy Cohen showed up to help Colbert through a wormhole portal that opened up to swallow his show, followed by his “Strike Force Five” co-hosts — “Jimmy, Seth, John, Handsome Jimmy!” Colbert called them — who came by to see him off.
“Without you, where will Americans turn to see a middle-aged white man make jokes about the news?” — SETH MEYERS
“But why aren’t you guys being pulled in, too?” Colbert asked.
“Actually, one of these holes opened at my show last year, but it went away after about three days.” — JIMMY KIMMEL, referring to ABC’s pulling “Jimmy Kimmel Live” off air the briefly after Kimmel made comments about Charlie Kirk
“At some point, this may come for all of our shows. But, Stephen, what’s important to remember is tonight it is going to eat you.” — JOHN OLIVER
The wormhole sucked Colbert up then spat him out into a jam session on one of his favorite songs, Elvis Costello’s “Jump Up.” Colbert sang alongside Jon Batiste, Cato the bandleader, and Costello himself, who all joined McCartney back onstage for one big performance of The Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye” as staffers and friends took the stage.
In the final moments, Colbert gave McCartney the nod to cut the power from the control room. Once done, the wormhole turned the Ed Sullivan Theater into a miniature version of itself inside a musical snow globe playing the show’s theme song while being sniffed by one last celebrity, Colbert’s Boykin Spaniel, Benny.
The post Stephen Colbert Went Out His Way — Through a Wormhole appeared first on New York Times.
