Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert Reveal How They Learned Their Shows Were Canceled
Late-night got real Tuesday as Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert swapped stages to trade war stories—Kimmel on a sudden shutdown, Colbert on his show’s May 2026 end date—and how each took the hit.
Two late-night heavyweights swapped couches on Tuesday, September 30, and compared cancellation stories. Jimmy Kimmel got a surprise, temporary benching from ABC. Stephen Colbert is riding out a planned end date in May 2026. Same night, two very different phone calls.
Kimmel: ABC hit pause, and he found out the old-fashioned way — a sudden exec call
On Colbert's show, Kimmel walked through the moment he learned his episode was getting pulled. He says ABC rang him up out of the blue — unusual enough to make his radar ping — and told him they wanted to 'take the temperature down' and were worried about what he might say that night. The solution, according to the network: take the show off the air.
Kimmel pushed back, said it was a bad idea, and then got the kicker: they had put it to a vote, and he lost. After he hung up, he only told a handful of producers. In his head, though, it felt final.
'This is it, I’m never coming back on the air.'
Obviously he did come back, but still — the 'we voted you off tonight' part is a pretty wild bit of network inside baseball.
Colbert: his show really is ending — and his manager sat on the news for days
Colbert's situation is more permanent. CBS has already announced that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will end next May — as in May 2026 — citing financial reasons. He says his manager told him after the July 16 taping. And here is the twist: that same manager, James Dixon (who also reps Kimmel and Seth Meyers), had known for several days but waited because Colbert was on vacation. Kind, considerate, and also a little surreal.
Colbert described getting home two and a half hours late that night. His wife met him with the most direct question possible: 'What happened? Did you get canceled?' His answer: 'Yes, I did.'
The next day, he told his team. After filming that day's episode, he asked the studio audience to stay put — 'Okay, now nobody leave because we've got one more act of the show' — sprinted backstage, gathered his staff on Zoom, delivered the news, then went back out and shared it with the crowd.
Quick beats
- Tuesday, September 30: Kimmel and Colbert appear on each other's shows and swap cancellation stories in a rare crossover.
- Kimmel: ABC temporarily suspended his show for that night after a vote among execs who wanted to 'take the temperature down.'
- Colbert: CBS is ending The Late Show in May 2026 for financial reasons.
- July 16: Colbert learns the news from his manager after taping; the manager had known for days but waited until Colbert returned from vacation.
- Colbert informed his staff via Zoom right after a taping, then told the live audience.
Two different endings, same business: one host gets time-out, the other gets a calendar date. And yes, the shared manager angle makes this feel even more like late-night meets Succession.