It’s hard to imagine a world in which Stephen Colbert isn’t on the airwaves, providing a reliable and soothing dash of sanity. Just a year after his satirical political news show, The Colbert Report, went off the air on Comedy Central, Colbert took the reins of The Late Show from David Letterman—and this Thursday, that run too comes to an end (albeit not on Colbert’s terms).
In honor of the Emmy-winning show’s nearly 11-year tenure—a period during which Colbert and his writers managed to be thoughtful and irreverent about the news of the day without veering into preachiness—we’ve rounded up five of the best moments in Late Show history, now that it’s, well, history.
Nick Cave speaking powerfully about grief
Nick Cave appeared on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert in August 2024 to talk about his album Wild God, but the conversation ultimately covered far greater territory. Colbert often engaged his guests on the subject of loss—he having suffered the deaths of his father and two of his brothers in childhood—and Cave was generous in his reflection on the deaths of two of his sons. “There is joy and there is happiness in a way you could never believe possible on the other side of grief,” Cave said.
