First on LateNighter: Ahead of Stephen Colbert‘s final bow as host of CBS’ The Late Show, a CNN documentary special will survey his potential legacy—as well as the larger implications of his late-night program’s cancellation.
A new CNN FlashDoc, The Last Laugh: Stephen Colbert, will stream at CNN.com/Watch and on the CNN app this Friday, May 15. It will also air Sunday, May 17 at 8 p.m. ET on CNN, just days before the 33-year-old Late Show franchise’s highly anticipated series finale.
“For more than a decade, Stephen Colbert has sat at the center of late night, where comedy, politics and culture collide,” the special’s official logline reads. “As he prepares to take the desk for the final time, The Last Laugh turns its lens on both the show and the man, exploring what audiences stand to lose when one of satire’s sharpest and most thoughtful voices signs off.”
Given that The Late Show was cancelled on the heels of Colbert characterizing, on-air, last July’s $16 million lawsuit settlement between CBS parent Paramount and President Donald Trump as a “big, fat bribe,” the hour-long docu special also examines “the broader cultural and political forces surrounding the end of Colbert’s late-night run—and the future of outspoken comedy in an evolving landscape.”
Among those who weighed in for The Last Laugh are Jake Tapper, CNN anchor and Chief Washington Correspondent—and 14-time Late Show With Stephen Colbert guest; comedians Jordan Carlos and Gianmarco Soresi; and key creative voices from Colbert’s previous late-night foray, The Colbert Report, including Allison Silverman and Richard Dahm.
Eric Johnson, and CNN Studios’s Amy Entelis and Katie Hinman, executive produced this latest CNN FlashDoc.
Previous CNN FlashDocs include Bad Bunny and the Halftime Show: Rhythms of Resistance, and Behind the Bob: Vogue’s Anna Wintour. The full CNN FlashDocs library is available to stream for CNN’s streaming subscribers.
Watch a promo for The Last Laugh: Stephen Colbert:
🖕
It’s ALL about the prissy toddler in the WH who gets his Depends in a knot with the slightest criticism.
He’s surrounded himself with azz lickers so noone has the balls to talk him down from his dementia induced ravings. He’ll do and say any fool thing for attention.
He demanded and got a huge bribe and got caught. If you respect Letterman so much, why aren’t you aware of his latest comments on this very issue?
Your Dear Toddler Drumpf wanted him removed! Ask Letterman about that, if you believe he’s on your side, moron!