The runway is now clear for Stephen Colbert‘s Late Show to enjoy the grandest finale imaginable.
In what NBC is touting as “a sign of late-night solidarity,” The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon will air a repeat Thursday, May 21— the night that Colbert’s Late Show (and CBS’s 33-year-old franchise as a whole) fades to black.
The Tonight Show instead will atypically air a new Friday episode on May 22, featuring Tribeca Festival co-founders Robert De Niro and Jane Rosenthal, plus musical guest Maluma.
NBC’s decision for its own 11:35 p.m. talker to take a reverential knee comes on the heels of Jimmy Kimmel confirming to LateNighter that ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will not produce a new episode that Thursday, also out of respect for Colbert’s send-off.
Kimmel’s gesture has precedent, as he made the same call 11 years ago when David Letterman signed off from The Late Show, opting not to compete against the final broadcast of one of his comedy heroes. (Fallon’s Tonight Show, however, did air a new episode that night in May 2015.)
Both Fallon and Kimmel, of course, joined Colbert, Late Night‘s Seth Meyers, and Last Week Tonight‘s John Oliver for a Strike Force Five reunion on Monday night’s Late Show. Both of NBC’s late-night programs were dark that night so that Fallon and Meyers could gather with their fellow hosts at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York, before returning with new episodes Tuesday through Thursday of this week.
The Tonight Show’s guests this Tuesday night are Sigourney Weaver (Star Wars: The Mandalorian & Grogu), Andrew Rannells (HBO’s upcoming Miss You, Love You), and the Black Keys.
They want to make sure he doesn’t get below 2 million viewers lol
To be fair, the 1iota.com page for the show still show a taping happening on the 21st, so NBC is likely simply holding the episode for the next night. Still, kudos to both Fallon and NBC for doing the right thing.
True solidarity for fucken free speech and FU to Trump!
as if you watch daily anyway. people don’t watch it, that is why it died.
Youtube channels has better rating than these
And go stand in the corner until you decide to grow up!
‘The hot one’ has more people viewing than late night shows and there was no political jokes that offend anyone.
The chicken wings does the talking and the conversation is meaningful. Not like these shows the host don’t even research on the guests at all and just read text on the screen.
Moron!