Jimmy Kimmel Live! host Jimmy Kimmel has recently weighed in on the shocking cancellation of Stephen Colbert’s show. Kimmel said that the news was the death of late-night television. He also made it clear that he believes Colbert’s departure is a sign of something much bigger. 

The host spoke about the future of the genre in a new interview with Vulture. This comes after Stephen Colbert's The Late Show was unexpectedly taken off the air. Kimmel, speaking about the growing uncertainty around late-night television, made it clear that he believes the format is in a big crisis. 

“There are far more people watching late-night TV than there ever were, if you look at the number of views me and my colleagues get online every day and add in our linear-television ratings,” Kimmel asserted. He then added, “We’re not just dying of natural causes. We’re being poisoned.”

“I feel a little bit defeated about it,” Kimmel told Vulture after Colbert’s final episode. “In a lot of ways, I feel like I’m looking at my own future. Am I to believe that over the course of those two years, they suddenly started losing $40 million a year? These are just made-up numbers.” 

For context, CBS pulled the plug on The Late Show in July 2025 for financial reasons. Kimmel told Vulture that he finds it hard to believe that Colbert’s show was losing $40 million a year. He further said that a 2023 New York Times article allegedly stated that Colbert was offered a five-year deal but chose to go with three. 

Colbert’s Late Show stood as one of the defining pillars of late-night television, which is why its cancellation feels like a personal loss.  

Stephen Colbert’s Late Show cancellation marks the end of a defining late-night era 

It is the end of an era for late-night TV with the cancellation of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Since 2015, the show has been hosted by Stephen Colbert and has become a staple of CBS’s late-night lineup. Colbert took over The Late Show after David Letterman retired and quickly made it his own. 

The program became known for its mix of satire, opening monologues, celebrity interviews, and cultural commentary. Over the years, the show became known not just for Colbert’s monologues, but also for its far-ranging guest line-up. Its guest list regularly included actors, musicians, comedians, politicians, and major cultural voices, often creating memorable interview moments. 

Guest conversations became a hallmark of the show’s identity, blending humor with thoughtful discussion of entertainment and current events. That legacy made CBS’s announcement all the more notable when the network said the show was canceled for financial reasons. It further stated that the decision was not about the show’s performance or its content, but the challenges the late-night business faces, including declining advertising revenue and changing viewing habits.  

Meanwhile, Kimmel’s comments framed Colbert’s cancellation as more than just the end of one show. He said late-night television is being “poisoned,” and suggested the challenges facing the format run deeper than ratings. His comments fueled speculation about the future of late-night TV and what Colbert’s departure could mean for the genre. 

Do you think Stephen Colbert’s exit marks the end of late-night television? Let us know in the comments.

Written by

Bias Sinha

Edited by

Adiba Nizami