Paul McCartney has helped Stephen Colbert bring down the curtain on The Late Show.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ended its 11-year run on CBS on Thursday night at New York's Ed Sullivan Theatre.
Colbert opened the show with a reflective message, sharing that he couldn't "adequately explain to you what the people who work here have done for each other, and how much we mean to each other".
After the theme music kicked in one last time, Colbert came on stage for his official monologue, which he started, "If you're just tuning into The Late Show, you missed a lot!"
The monologue was interrupted multiple times by stars in the audience who were told they hadn't made the final guest list, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tig Notaro, Tim Meadows and Ryan Reynolds.
"It's fantastic to come back here," official guest McCartney said of the Ed Sullivan Theatre, where he performed with the Beatles in 1964.
"America was just the land of the free, the greatest democracy. Yes, that was what it was," McCartney continued. "That's what it still is, hopefully."
CBS parent Paramount insisted its decision last year to cancel The Late Show was due to its loss-making financials. The company has repeatedly denied that the axing was actually to do with Colbert's decade of deriding US President Donald Trump.
Trump gloated about the cancellation on Truth Social.
"Stephen Colbert is a pathetic trainwreck, with no talent or anything else necessary for show business success," he wrote. "Now, after being terminated by CBS, he has actually gotten worse, along with his nonexistent ratings. Stephen is running on hatred and fumes, a dead man walking! CBS should "put him to sleep". It is the humanitarian thing to do."
Colbert took over as host of The Late Show from David Letterman on 8 September 2015.
As he taped the final episode for broadcast earlier on Thursday, a crowd of a few dozen fans gathered to pay their respects, Deadline reported. Some carried hand-made signs with the messages, "Thank you, Stephen," and "Keep Colbert, Fire Trump."
Jimmy Kimmel and Jimmy Fallon, whose shows usually air opposite Colbert's, both showed reruns out of respect for Colbert's last show.
Starting on 22 May, The Late Show will be replaced with Comics Unleashed, a comedy panel show.
