Upon getting to really “sit down and chat” with Taylor Swift for the first time, Stephen Colbert hit up the music superstar for advice on how to deal with CBS’ Late Show (involuntarily) ending in May 2026.
For context: Swift’s Wednesday-night Late Show visit came almost exactly one year after she concluded her blockbuster, 21-month Eras Tour.
“To come down from a two-year tour like that, I’m sure there’s a little bit of transition,” said Colbert. “Any advice for me?”
“For this specific situation, no…,” Swift started, “but I can sort of see from afar that we’re both very passionate, hyperactive people—let’s not say workaholics—so when I take time off, I can’t slow down that need to get up and do a lot of things today. But I can change what those things are.
“I can figure out how to chill out, but I’m never going to be a chill person,” she explained. “I’m a ‘bread girl’ now, or I’m like, ‘This isn’t going to cross-stitch itself!’ Hobbies are kind of incredible.”
Speaking to the end of Colbert’s 20-year late-night run, she observed, “You give everything to this, you love to do a million things to prepare for this, and you give everything to the people that watch.” So come May, Swift suggested, “You can give that to your friends and family, your community—.”
“But my friends and family don’t chant my name,” Colbert was quick to quip.
‘You’re Going To Be Podcast Guy’
Later in the chat, when Colbert invited Swift to name her Top 5 Taylor Swift songs and she in the moment could only out two—”All Too Well (10-Minute Version)” and “Mirrorball”—she promised to return someday with an update,
Colbert said she had “all the time in the world. Until May.”
Swift jumped in to assure Colbert that he will have all sorts of options before him. “You’re going to be, like, podcast guy, you’re going to be an influencer. You’re going to make TikToks”—maybe with her, she volunteered.
Swift is currently promoting The End of an Era, the six-episode, behind-the-scenes docuseries of her seismic Eras Tour, which streams on Disney+ this Friday, December 12.
Wednesday marked only Swift’s second appearance on Late Show, having previously sat for an interview—remotely—in April 2021, during the show’s COVID-era episodes. (Appearing on the heels of the release of Fearless [Taylor’s Version], Swift at the time had fun with Colbert, jokingly revealing that he was the inspiration for her song “Hey Stephen.”)
Booking Swift is a major coup for any late-night show. It’s rare that any guest can move the needle ratings-wise, but she is a rare exception to that rule. Her October 6 appearance on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon scored the NBC talker its biggest laudience for a regular episode in months (attracting 1.77 million total viewers). Two days later, her “Tay/kover” of NBC’s Late Night with Seth Meyers increased that show’s audience (to 993,000 viewers).
Watch video of Swift’s Late Show visit at the top of this post.
