The “Late Show Home Shopping” spree has come to an end, leaving Chef José Andrés‘s World Central Kitchen well-stocked.
On Wednesday night’s penultimate episode of CBS’s The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert announced the grand total raised by his months-long “Everything must go!” auction of memorabilia—just shy of $2.5 million. He then welcomed seven-time guest Chef José Andrés on-stage to accept not an oversized check (like you usually see at such presentations), but “the world’s smallest check,” which they viewed using a microscope.
The fund raised will benefit World Central Kitchen, a not-for-profit organization that provides meals in response to humanitarian, climate, and community crises.
Accepting the check, Andrés said to Colbert, “Thank you on behalf of everybody at World Central Kitchen and beyond, because you raised over the last decade so much money for us to help us do what we do—but you did so much more. You gave us hope, not only to the men and women at World Central Kitchen, but the people World Central Kitchen is helping. From Ukraine to Gaza, North Carolina to Puerto Rico, Stephen Colbert was there.”
“Thank you to everyone who contributed,” Colbert said to viewers. And to Andrés, he said, “Thank you and everyone at World Central Kitchen for the work you do. Bringing people hope.”
Lest the teeny-tiny check get lost, Colbert slipped into a comically oversized envelope, then bid the chef adieu.
Colbert debuted The Late Show‘s pre-finale charity auction in December. The first round—which saw his COVID-era desk go for $14,800, and two VIP tickets to the Late Show finale sell for $111,100—resulted in a payout of $169,727.99 to World Central Kitchen. A second leg brought in close to $40,000 more.
A third lot of items announced by Colbert on NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers—including a stolen rug from Capitol Hill—fetched nearly $14,500. A February batch brought in nearly $90,000 worth of bids, with several (including the guest chair, and a Late Show prop closet raid) fetching five-figure bids.
In mid-March, Colbert announced a few more auction items, including the tuxedo he wore to “perfectly pleasant”-ly host the Emmys in 2017. Other additions have included a custom-made penny press that makes imprints commemorating The Late Show, and the 12-foot lighted sign that is featured above the stage there at the Ed Sullivan Theater (which went for $102,100).
For those who “don’t want in on the auction but want in on the action,” Colbert offered a commemorative “The Last Show with Stephen Colbert” T-shirt that can simply be purchased. Those sell for $40, with the net proceeds going to World Central Kitchen.
