First Look Photos: Stephen Colbert Hosts Strike Force Five Reunion on The Late Show

The Strike Force Five has officially taken the stage.

CBS has released first-look photos from Monday afternoon’s taping of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, offering an early glimpse at tonight’s late-night super-reunion: Colbert joined at the Ed Sullivan Theater by Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver.

The episode, airing Monday night, marks the first time all five hosts have appeared together on a single late-night stage—bringing to TV what began as a strike-era Zoom hang.

Click the arrows or swipe the slideshow below to see preview photos from their joint appearance:

The five hosts first teamed up in 2023 for Strike Force Five, the 12-episode podcast launched during the writers strike, when production was halted across scripted television and film, including The Late Show, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Late Night with Seth Meyers, and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver.

What started as a private weekly check-in between the five hosts became a loose, often gleefully under-produced podcast designed to raise money for out-of-work staffers. The podcast shot to the top of the charts on Spotify and Apple Podcasts, with its ramshackle format becoming part of the appeal.

Monday night’s reunion comes as Colbert’s Late Show officially hits its final stretch at CBS, with Colbert’s last episode set for May 21. That gives the gathering a little extra weight: part reunion, part victory lap, part farewell tour, and part reminder that this generation of late-night hosts has been defined less by old-school rivalry than by showing up for one another.

As a byproduct of the group appearance, The Late Show will be the only network late-night show airing a new episode Monday night. Fallon and Meyers both changed up their schedules today, while Kimmel’s Los Angeles-based show is dark for the week, with Kimmel already scheduled to be in New York for ABC’s upfronts Tuesday.

CBS confirmed the booking after LateNighter first reported last week that Meyers had let the reunion slip during an audience Q&A at Late Night. Other high-profile guests on Colbert’s penultimate week include Tom Hanks and David Letterman, who is set to return Thursday to the franchise he launched back in 1993.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT on CBS.

Visit our lineups area for updated guest listings for all the late-night shows, and subscribe to our newsletter to get stories like this in your inbox.