Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, and Stephen Colbert‘s former bandleader Jon Batiste, along with current bandleader Louis Cato were among the musicians to bid a warm goodbye to Colbert during his final night hosting The Late Show at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York on Thursday. The performance also closed out the show, which was a star-studded, sentimental, and humorous send-off.
The first song that was broadcast was Costello’s “Jump Up (Honky Tonk demo)” — which appeared to be a prerecorded segment — an intimate acoustic number that featured Costello, Batiste, Cato, and Colbert on stools, harmonizing under spotlights. McCartney led the second song, the Beatles’ “Hello, Goodbye,” which was performed live in front of the theater’s audience, who stood and sang along as McCartney sang the Beatles classic.
It marked the end of Colbert’s nearly 11-year run behind The Late Show’s desk after taking over from David Letterman in September 2015. Letterman served as the first host of the program back in August 1993.
The musicians who closed out the show were among the star-studded final week of guests, which included a moving and powerful performance by Bruce Springsteen, who sang “Streets of Minneapolis” last night (while taking CBS to task for canceling the show). Colbert also joined David Byrne to perform Talking Heads classic “Burning Down the House” earlier in the week. While they didn’t perform, “Weird Al” Yankovic and James Taylor were among the guests of the finale week who participated in an iconic segment of “Colbert Questionert,” where guests are typically asked 15 questions. For its last week, guests turned the tables and queried Colbert.
The Late Show was canceled in July 2025 after CBS and its parent company Paramount settled a $16 million lawsuit with Donald Trump. CBS cited that it was a “purely a financial decision.” However, it was speculated that Paramount nixed the show to look favorable to Trump — of whom Colbert has been critical — and the FCC to help secure the merger between Paramount and Skydance.
