Stephen Colbert Laments the Loss of ‘The Late Show’

CBS “will be ending ‘The Late Show’ in May,” Colbert told his audience on Thursday. He kept the announcement brief and light.

Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. Here are the 50 best movies on Netflix right now.

End of an Era

At the top of Thursday’s “Late Night,” Stephen Colbert announced that CBS will bring the show to an end in May.

The network says the cancellation was “purely a financial decision,” but there’s speculation that Colbert’s recent criticism of CBS’s parent company, Paramount, was a factor.

Colbert kept the announcement brief and light. When the audience booed the news, he responded with a smile, “Yeah, I share your feelings. It’s not just the end of our show, but it’s the end of ‘The Late Show’ on CBS. I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away.”

“I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here, out there, all around the world, Mr. and Mrs. America and all the ships at sea. I’m grateful to share the stage with this band, these artists over here every night. And I am extraordinarily, deeply grateful to the 200 people who work here.” — STEPHEN COLBERT

“We get to do this show — we get to do this show for each other every day, all day, and I’ve had the pleasure and the responsibility of sharing what we do every day with you in front of this camera for the last 10 years. And let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it. And it’s a job that I’m looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months. It’s going to be fun. Y’all ready?” — STEPHEN COLBERT

The Punchiest Punchlines (Epstein Edition)

“Well, guys, President Trump’s handling of the Epstein files continues to dominate the news. Yeah, I wonder if we’re ever going to see the Epstein files. At this point, our best chance is if Coldplay shows them on the Jumbotron.” — JIMMY FALLON

“Yeah, the Epstein files won’t go away. Trump is so stressed, he’s like, ‘I need a vacation. What was the name of that fun island I used to go to?’” — JIMMY FALLON

“President Trump said yesterday that he would rather talk about the success of his administration than the Jeffrey Epstein files. Yeah, I’m sure you would. That’s like Diddy saying he’d rather talk about his V.M.A.s — you don’t get to pick.” — SETH MEYERS

“I swear, we’re like a day away from Trump claiming Jeffrey Epstein was never even a real person.” — SETH MEYERS

“MAGA is furious because they think Trump is refusing to release the Epstein files. In response, Trump has been saying there are no credible files, and if there are, they’re really boring, and also, Obama made them up. That part is true. That part is true, and you can read them on Obama’s annual ‘Summer Epstein Client List.’” — STEPHEN COLBERT

The Bits Worth Watching

Reggie Watts, the former “Late Late Show” bandleader, promoted his new stand-up comedy tour on Thursday’s “Daily Show.”

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Elizabeth Bouvia, center, a subject of the documentary “Life After.”Credit…The Los Angeles Times/Film Forum

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