Stephen Colbert has gotten the last laugh over President Donald Trump.
Colbert’s final The Late Show episode on Thursday night was also his most-watched weeknight show ever, according to preliminary Nielsen data obtained by The Hollywood Reporter.
The data shows that an estimated 6.74 million people tuned in to watch Colbert, 62, roast the 79-year-old president one last time in the final episode of his late-night talk show, which also featured celebrity appearances by Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, and Tim Meadows—plus a performance by Paul McCartney to close the show.
The most-watched episode of The Late Show aired on Feb. 7, 2016, directly after the Super Bowl, pulling in a whopping 20.55 million viewers.
Still, the final episode’s tally more than doubled his current season weeknight average, which Nielsen reports tallied around 2.69 million viewers per episode.
During the extended show, Colbert took one last jab at Trump while he and McCartney, 83, discussed The Beatles’ iconic 1964 performance in CBS’s Ed Sullivan Theater.
“We’d gotten used to a little bit of makeup in England,” McCartney recalled. “But we went down there, and the girls put makeup on us, and it was like bright orange.”
“That’s very popular in certain circles these days,” Colbert snarked, referencing Trump’s makeup-slathered hand bruise.
“We set a trend,” McCartney quipped.
“Now we know where it started!” Colbert added.
An embittered Trump fumed on Truth Social as The Late Show‘s credits rolled one final time.
“Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he’s finally gone!” Trump posted to Truth Social an hour after Colbert’s show ended.
The next morning, the president doubled down on his trash talk, saying Colbert’s exit was the “‘Beginning of the End’ for untalented, nasty, highly overpaid, not funny, and very poorly rated Late Night Television Hosts.”
Despite Trump’s 2 a.m. name-calling, Colbert’s CBS ousting undoubtedly boosted his ratings.
In the week before his CBS exit, Colbert dominated late-night ratings, averaging more than 3.3 million viewers, according to Nielsen. The Late Show usurped Fox News’ Gutfeld!, which had previously held the top spot throughout all of 2026.
Though CBS says The Late Show‘s cancellation after 11 seasons—and 23 prior with David Letterman—was a “purely financial decision,” the announcement came just days after Colbert publicly chided the network.
In July, Colbert called CBS’s $16 million settlement with Trump a “big, fat bribe.” Before the on-air callout, Colbert said things had been sweet with CBS.
“Less than two years before they called to say it’s over, they were very eager for me to be signed for a long time. So, something changed,” Colbert told The New York Times in April. The host ultimately signed a three-year deal, which expired with Thursday’s finale.
In his final episode, Colbert mocked the network with equal fervor. While describing a lawsuit about the unlawful use of copyrighted music from Charlie Brown TV specials, the show’s band began playing the Peanuts' theme song.
“Oh no. I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money,” Colbert sarcastically said, staring directly into the camera.
