According to The Hollywood Reporter, the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert drew large viewership, the largest the series has had during Stephen Colbert’s (The Colbert Report, Our Cartoon President) tenure. The late show drew in 6.74 million viewers on CBS on Thursday, the most ever for a weeknight episode, according to preliminary Nielsen data.
The Hollywood Reporter reports that this is more than double the season average, with The Late Show generally drawing between 2.4 million and 2.7 million viewers per episode this past season. This is, however, only about half the viewers that David Letterman (Late Night with David Letterman, My Next Guest Needs No Introduction with David Letterman) saw for his farewell episode in 2015, when 13.7 million viewers tuned in. This is the most viewership that the show has obtained during Colbert’s run. The Late Show once aired a post-Super Bowl episode during the 2016 Super Bowl, which averaged 20.55 million viewers, while the series premiere of the Colbert Late Show averaged 6.55 million total viewers.
As per The Hollywood Reporter, Colbert’s final show was star-studded, with appearances by the likes of Bryan Cranston (Breaking Bad, Malcolm in the Middle), Paul Rudd (Death of a Unicorn, Role Models), and Tim Meadows (The Ladies Man, Walk Hard: The Dewey Cox Story), and a closing performance led by Paul McCartney (A Hard Day’s Night, The Beatles: Get Back).
CBS last year shocked many when they announced the cancellation of the show after the current season via The Hollywood Reporter. Byron Allen (Funny You Should Ask, The Byron Allen Show) will take over 11:30 with his Comics Unleashed series in a time-buy arrangement with CBS.
According to The Hollywood Reporter, although the numbers for the finale were strong compared to a typical episode, they underscore how viewing habits have changed. The final monologue by Colbert has gathered 2.9 million views and counting on YouTube, while the musical performance with McCartney is at 1.1 million views and growing.
The last episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is available to stream on Paramount+.