Stephen Colbert Reveals What He’ll Do the Day After The Late Show Ends

Stephen Colbert knows exactly how he’s spending his first day after The Late Show with Stephen Colbert ends.

“I’m going to my brother’s wedding in Washington D.C.,” the beloved host tells PEOPLE at his cover interview. “My [eight] brothers and sisters and [their] husbands and wives are coming to the last show, and then we’re all getting on the train the next day and going down to D.C. to go to Tommy’s wedding.”

Stephen Colbert at The George Ballroom in N.Y.C. for PEOPLE on April 3, 2026.Art Streiber

He’s thrilled for the way things worked out. “It’s great, I love it. The next day focus is not on me, focus is on my brother. So much better. We’ll get drunk and we’ll sing. We all think we have good voices. That’s the great danger of our family, especially the men. It’ll be great.”

He’s also celebrating another family member this week, his son John who graduates from college. “I’m glad a lot of the week is not about me, [it’s about] people I love more than I love me — and I’m a big fan of me.”

Stephen Colbert (center, front) and family circa late-1960s.Courtesy Stephen Colbert

After 11 seasons with Colbert at the helm (the show was created in 1993 and originally hosted by David Letterman until 2015), Thursday, May 21 will mark The Late Show‘s final episode.

In July 2025, CBS announced its cancellation. It came after Colbert criticized the network’s parent company, Paramount, for its $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump. (Trump sued CBS’ 60 Minutes, accusing them of deceptively editing an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. At the time, Paramount was in the middle of a merger with the entertainment company Skydance, which required approval from the Trump administration.)

Colbert says he found out through his manager. He was lying down with a sock over his eyes, resting before the show: “I sat up and I said, ‘I’m sorry, I’m awake. Could you say that one more time?’”

Stephen Colbert at The George Ballroom in N.Y.C. for PEOPLE on April 3, 2026.Art Streiber

Nine months later during his PEOPLE photo shoot, he was reflective. “I mean, you can’t do this forever. You have to think about, well, when is the right time to end your tenure? I didn’t think this soon, but I mean, who knows? Maybe CBS saved my life because 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.”

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Right now, he’s not sure what exactly he’ll do next. Aside from writing a Lord of the Rings film with his son Peter.

“I was working on [The Lord of the Rings] before the show was canceled,” Colbert says. “This has been years I’ve been thinking about it. I’ve been working on it with my son since COVID actually, and then working on it with Peter Jackson and Philippa Boyens and Fran Walsh for almost two years now. So that wasn’t a post-show idea.”

Stephen Colbert.Art Streiber

Colbert says he’s been focused on ending the show and not planning too far ahead.

“There’s so much to think about to do the show,” he says. “So I don’t have much better of an answer than most college seniors do, which is I’ve got to finish this first, because it takes almost the entirety of my brain to do this show. So we’ll land this plane and we’ll check out the view from there.”

The last episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air on Thursday, May 21 at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.