Stephen Colbert left many fans unimpressed after Ryan Reynolds appeared as a surprise guest during his farewell on Thursday, as The Late Show aired its final star-studded episode after a 33-year run.
During the first half of the special final episode, Colbert, 62, had a string of celebrity cameos in the audience, each jokingly wondering whether they would be his last interview, before Beatles icon Paul McCartney ended up being his final guest.
However, fans were left irritated when Blake Lively’s husband Reynolds – who played a major role in her legal war with Justin Baldoni – was among the surprise appearances.
Colbert quickly shut him down, joking: ‘Ryan, it’s great to see you, but I hate to tell you, you’re not my last guest.’
‘Ouchie,’ Reynolds replied. ‘Okay, well in that case I’m just happy to be here. Pay my respects to the one on the world’s greatest entertainers in his last night at the Ed Sullivan theater.’
After Colbert thanked him, Reynolds quipped, ‘I was talking about your keyboardist, Corey Bernhard.’ Reynolds then got up to give Bernhard a prolonged hug and a gift of bananas, before the musician playfully shook him off.
Stephen Colbert, 62, left many fans unimpressed after Ryan Reynolds appeared as a surprise guest during his farewell on Thursday, as The Late Show aired its final star-studded episode
Blake Lively’s husband – who played a major role in her legal war with Justin Baldoni – was among the celebrity cameos
‘Thank you. Please stop DM-ing me,’ Bernhard told him.
‘Never,’ Reynolds replied.
‘Who thought it would be a good idea to trot Ryan Reynolds out? Was the goal to get as many a**holes in screen as possible?’ one fan on X questioned.
‘Why have Ryan Reynolds on his last show!!! Ugh!’ another wrote.
‘ryan reynolds EW EW EW EW EW,’ another chimed in.
Colbert has spent nearly 11 years at the helm of The Late Show, taking over as host in September 2015 from David Letterman, 79, who launched the late-night talk show in 1993 and retired after 22 years.
McCartney ended up being the final guest, after Colbert joked that Pope Leo wouldn’t come out of his dressing room.
He started the show with a speech to his audience, telling them he planned to do a ‘normal’ episode before getting a surprise cameo from Bryan Cranston in the audience.
‘But you said there’s nothing special happening tonight?’ Cranston asked.
‘Well, as I was saying, we are doing a normal episode of The Late Show which is always kind of special,’ Colbert said.
Colbert quickly shut him down, joking: ‘Ryan, it’s great to see you, but I hate to tell you, you’re not my last guest’
Reynolds then tried to hug Colbert’s keyboard player Corey Bernhard
‘Who thought it would be a good idea to trot Ryan Reynolds out? Was the goal to get as many a**holes in screen as possible?’ one fan on X questioned
‘Oh, yeah, absolutely. But not even, I don’t know, a surprise celebrity cameo popping up out of nowhere?’ Cranston questioned.
‘No, Bryan, those always feel kind of forced.’
‘Absolutely, totally, very cheap stunt but I’m here. Maybe I could be your last guest,’ Cranston replied.
‘That would be great, Bryan. The thing is, we already have a pretty special one lined up. I’m sorry,’ Colbert told him, which prompted Cranston to jokingly storm out.
His monologue was then once again interrupted by actor Paul Rudd who sat in the audience.
‘Paul, why are you interrupting me?’ he asked.
‘I’m just curious when our interview starts. I have an extremely long poem I want to recite and I don’t want to run out of time,’ Rudd replied.
‘You wrote a poem about me?’ Colbert questioned.
‘I wrote a poem,’ Rudd quipped.
‘Okay, that’s nice. Paul, just, you’re not my last guest,’ Colbert replied.
Rudd then joked he got him six bananas as a retirement gift, but had already eaten one of them.
Actor Tim Meadows then appeared in the audience, saying, ‘I was just explaining to Paul Rudd that for your last guest you wanted someone that you go back with so we could talk about the good old days when you and I were doing second city together.’
‘It’s not you either, Tim,’ Colbert quipped.
Beatles icon Paul McCartney ended up being his last guest
He started the show with a speech to his audience, telling them he planned to do a ‘normal’ episode before getting a surprise cameo from Bryan Cranston in the audience
‘I’m here. Maybe I could be your last guest,’ Cranston said. ‘That would be great, Bryan. The thing is, we already have a pretty special one lined up. I’m sorry,’ Colbert told him, which prompted Cranston to jokingly storm out
His monologue was then once again interrupted by actor Paul Rudd who sat in the audience
Actor Tim Meadows also appeared in the audience
His fellow late night hosts also joined in at the end
‘Screw you, Colbert! You know what! You got what you deserve! Give me those bananas!’ Meadows shouted while jokingly storming out.
Comedian Tig Notaro also made an appearance in the audience.
‘Let me guess you also think you’re going to be my guest tonight,’ he asked.
‘No. No, I just like to be at historic events. I was at the Obama inauguration, the moon landing, and whatever this is.’
A number of celebrities have helped Colbert bring the show to a close this week.
Tuesday’s episode featured Jon Stewart and Steven Spielberg, plus a ‘special performance’ by David Byrne and Colbert, while Wednesday’s episode included a performance by Bruce Springsteen.
His rivals, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon, will both air reruns on Thursday night out of respect for the departing star.
Colbert shockingly announced on July 17 that Paramount/CBS would not be renewing his contract after 11 years on the air, and they would end the late-night program.
At the time, the network claimed it was ‘purely a financial decision,’ but the cancellation came days after Colbert called Paramount/CBS’s $16 million lawsuit settlement with President Donald Trump ‘a big fat bribe.’
Paramount was also in the midst of a multibillion-dollar merger with the movie studio Skydance, which requires the government approval of the Federal Communications Commission (FCC).
Immediately after the show ends, Colbert will be hosting a Fired and Festive wrap party for the Late Show.
As reported by Variety, invites for the bash are topped with the show’s red, white and blue logo which has been tweaked to saw: ‘The LAST SHOW with Stephen Colbert’.
The invitations add: ‘That’s a WRAP! (PARTY)’.
The dress code is said to be ‘Fired and Festive’, and the event will take place at a nearby event space close to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City.
It has been reported that there will be ‘many celebrities’ at the after party, which is being taped.
Days before the death knell, Colbert assembled Fallon, Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, and the now-retired Letterman, to help him throw some CBS furniture off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater, including Colbert’s office chair, per Entertainment Weekly.
Fans lined up to bid farewell to the host ahead of the taping
One sign featured Colbert’s picture and read ‘Thank you Stephen!’
Colbert has spent nearly 11 years at the helm of The Late Show, taking over as host in September 2015; Pictured with President Donald Trump in an episode from September 2015
He took the reins from David Letterman, 79, who launched the late-night talk show in 1993; Seen with Letterman in 2023
His roster of high-profile guests includes Taylor Swift; Seen on the show in December 2025
Colbert recently addressed whether he is worried about potential fallout with President Trump.
In a new interview with People, he insisted he has ‘no fear’ of the current administration.
‘I mean, how silly would it be? The ending of the show aside, which people can speculate about all they want, and I can’t argue with their speculations, but we’re clowns. How much does it diminish the office of the Presidency to even notice what we say?’ he said.
He continued, ‘[Trump] needs to know how to pick his battles, metaphorically and literally.’
What Colbert will miss is ‘the camaraderie of us feeling better about our day. I harvest laughter for a living. I’ll miss that as much as I’ll miss the audience.’
He also recalled the moment he heard the news of the cancellation, describing how he was lying on his couch with a sock over his eyes, resting before the show, when his manager dropped the shocking announcement.
‘I sat up and I said, “I’m sorry, I’m awake. Could you say that one more time?”‘
Jimmy Fallon (pictured left) and Jimmy Kimmel (pictured right) gave Colbert an unusual send-off by going dark in late-night solidarity. Instead, their shows aired reruns
But these days Colbert said he feels as if CBS really ‘saved my life’ by ending The Late Show. ‘It takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day, and now I’ll be stepping down with enough time, enough energy to do other things that I want to do,’ he offered.
The star now has more time to spend with his three adult children, Madeleine, 30, Peter, 28, and John, 24, whom he shares with wife of 32 years, Evelyn McGee Colbert.
Colbert added that after his Late Show duties are over, he will attend his brother’s wedding then get to work on writing the new Lord Of The Rings movie with his son, screenwriter Peter.
Apart from that, the comedian said he is ‘available’ for hire.
The film is currently titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadows of the Past, and will be written by Colbert, his son and Philippa Boyens.
The announcement came in March via the studio’s various social media platforms, with Lord of the Rings director Peter Jackson joining Colbert for a video call.
Colbert shared that the film will be based on chapters Three Is Company through Fog on the Barrow-downs, from J.R.R. Tolkien’s epic high-fantasy novel The Fellowship of the Ring.
CBS insisted the decision to end the show was ‘purely financial’, but the cancellation came just days after Colbert slammed CBS’ $16 million settlement with Trump as ‘a big fat bribe’; Above, Trump on May 15
This comes amid news from Puck that The Late Show – which reportedly loses $40 million a year – is on track to post their least-viewed January on record with just 285,000 viewers, the worst in the show’s 10-year history.
When Colbert first announced in July 2025 that The Late Show was canceled he kept his response classy, saying: ‘I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners.’
The Late Show will be replaced by Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen, a comedy talk show that will not have political commentary.
Before The Late Show, Colbert spent nine years hosting The Colbert Report on Comedy Central and had been a correspondent on The Daily Show under Stewart.
