Seth Meyers isn’t on late night this week to offer his own on-air goodbye to Stephen Colbert. But with The Late Show signing off tonight, the Late Night host is weighing in from afar.
Speaking with Deadline’s Matthew Carey in Madrid (where he was attending the world premiere of the Netflix docuseries Rafa), Meyers called Colbert’s exit from CBS—and the end of the network’s 11:35 p.m. late-night franchise—“a very sad week for television in America.”
“I’m heartbroken,” Meyers said. “It’s very sad to lose a colleague and even sadder to lose a time slot. It would be one thing if Stephen was leaving and a younger person was getting a chance to have one of these jobs that are—as someone who’s experienced it—so exciting to have. So just in general, I think it’s a very sad week for television in America.”
Colbert’s final Late Show airs tonight, closing out his 11-year run as host and ending a CBS late-night lineage that dates back to David Letterman’s arrival at the network in 1993. CBS is turning the time slot over to Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen in an extension of the network’s time-buy arrangement with the self-styled media mogul.
Meyers also made clear that he does not expect Colbert to disappear for long.
“I’m also very optimistic that Stephen’s next chapter is going to be exciting for him and for the rest of us,” he told Deadline. “I think he’s been slow-playing this as what his next step was going to be for years and I’m very excited it’s going to happen.”
Meyers’ remarks will likely have to stand as his last salute to Colbert ahead of the finale. Late Night with Seth Meyers is on a two-week break, leaving him without a fresh show from which to mark the moment.
His fellow Strike Force Five hosts have been doing just that.
John Oliver closed Sunday’s Last Week Tonight by urging viewers to enjoy Colbert’s final shows, calling him “the f*cking best” before echoing David Letterman’s CBS-directed “Good night and good luck” signoff. Jimmy Fallon ended Wednesday’s Tonight Show by telling Colbert, “Have a great show tomorrow. We’ll be watching.” And Jimmy Kimmel told viewers to tune in to CBS “for the last time” tonight to wish Colbert and his staff “a fond farewell”—and then to never watch CBS again.
