Stephen Colbert Recalls ‘One of the Most Terrifying Moments’ He Had on The Late Show
Stephen Colbert is recalling an early moment on The Late Show that could have left him with “the shortest late-night career” ever.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host, who marks the final episode of the CBS series on May 21, looked back at a “quick memory from the very first show” during an audience Q&A shared on his YouTube channel Monday, May 4.
As Colbert explained, things were “a little rough” at first when he took over the gig from David Letterman in 2015. The format was “much more complicated” than Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report, but he and his team “didn’t realize how much more complicated it would be,” he said.
“Back then I liked to see the edit finished. I’m up in the editing suites … and the show will not export, meaning it won’t come out of the Avid editing machine. And every time we try to export it, it crashes at exactly the same point, 1:30-ish into the monologue,” Colbert, 61, recalled.
He added, “And then it won’t go to the broadcast center to be sent to the world. This goes on, and on, and on. And we go on at 11:35. It’s our first show, it’s 11:15 and I’m thinking, ‘S—, somebody should tell the network.’ I thought, ‘Oh, I’m the executive in charge of production.’”
Stephen Colbert appears on ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’ on March 30, 2026.Scott Kowalchyk/CBS
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Meanwhile, Colbert said, the “tech people” around him insisted that things would be “fine.”
Still, Colbert’s “entire family” was at a watch party in New York City to tune in to his first monologue and he wasn’t there. “I’m not there, I’m on the 7th floor waiting for the show to export,” he said.
That’s when Colbert’s editor Jason Baker came up with the idea of exporting the show “straight to the broadcast center” from his computer and avoiding any “intermediary channels.” Colbert then decided to “kick open” a door to the building’s accounting office to make sure his Late Show debut was indeed appearing on televisions across the country.
“We went in there with a bottle of Old Forester bourbon,” Colbert said, revealing that once the show passed the 1:30 mark, the editor who made it happen stood up in a celebratory pose.
“That is one of the fondest memories that I have and one of the most terrifying moments,” Colbert said. “Can you imagine? I remember, leading up to that second, that very second, I thought, ‘I might have the shortest late-night career.’ I don’t see them giving us a second show if that happened on the first show.”
After his first episode on Sept. 8, 2015, Colbert went on to host for 11 seasons. During the July 17, 2025 episode, he announced that his late-night talk show had been canceled by CBS. At the time, Colbert said he was “grateful” for the opportunity and his “beautiful theater to call home.”
