Jimmy Fallon closed Wednesday’s Tonight Show with a message for Stephen Colbert, whose final Late Show airs Thursday night.
“Thank you for watching,” Fallon said at the end of his May 20 broadcast. “Stay tuned for Late Night with Seth Meyers. And Stephen, have a great show tomorrow. We’ll be watching. Good night everybody.”
The sendoff came the night before Fallon’s own show is set to go dark in deference to Colbert’s finale. As we’ve reported, NBC is airing a repeat of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon on Thursday—in what the network has framed as “a sign of late-night solidarity”—clearing the 11:35 p.m. runway for Colbert’s goodbye. The Tonight Show will instead air a rare new Friday episode on May 22, with guests Robert De Niro, Jane Rosenthal, and musical guest Maluma.
ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! is also sitting out Thursday night, with Kimmel choosing not to compete against Colbert’s final broadcast. Kimmel made the same move in 2015, when David Letterman signed off from The Late Show.
Fallon’s Wednesday-night shoutout is the latest show of support from a host who has become a more visible presence in Colbert’s corner in the host’s final stretch. Fallon appeared on The Late Show three times in the past year: first in July, in the late-night host pit assembled after news of Colbert’s cancellation broke; then in March, for his first-ever proper sit-down interview with Colbert; and again last week, joining Kimmel, John Oliver, and Seth Meyers for a Strike Force Five reunion.
What should viewers expect from Stephen Colbert’s final episode of The Late Show? For now, that remains very much an open question. We know it will run long, and we know Colbert has said the idea for his goodbye only “gelled” in recent weeks.
As for Fallon, he has already made clear where he’ll be Thursday night: watching.
We’ll be watching tomorrow night, @StephenAtHome! 💙 @colbertlateshow #FallonTonight pic.twitter.com/qYEBW6WtwP
— The Tonight Show (@FallonTonight) May 21, 2026
Think it’s worth remembering that Fallon appeared (via video link) on the very first LSSC episode.
Class act.
He is just planning for his own down fall in advance. Probably Jimmy Kimble will be first.
The friendship between Fallon and Colbert goes back a while. Colbert made an appearance on Jimmy’s “Tonight Show” premiere. Jimmy said that a friend bet him $100 that he wouldn’t host “Tonight,” and saying “You owe me one, buddy.”
Then, a cavalcade of cameos appeared plunking down $100 bills (including Joan Rivers, marking her first appearance on “Tonight” since her falling out with Johnny Carson in 1986.) Then, at the end of the segment, Colbert arrives with a bucket filled with $100 in pennies, pours them all over the desk and down Jimmy’s collar, and says “Welcome to 11:30, BITCH!”
Later in the show, a last minute decision was made behind the scenes that Jimmy should introduce musical guest U2 from the Top of the Rock instead of from Studio 6B. Jimmy had to run to get to the elevators. As he was running, the pennies from Stephen were falling out of his suit.