Stephen Colbert has landed Barack Obama for his final stretch of “Late Show” interviews, confirming the big news during Thursday’s show.
“Folks before we get started, I have a quick but exciting announcement,” Colbert told his studio audience and viewers at home. “Tuesday, May 5, here on ‘The Late Show,’ in his first interview from the Obama Presidential Center in Chicago, I will be sitting down with former President Barack Obama.”
Colbert has spoken with Obama on a number of occasions. The former president appeared three times on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report,” as well as made appearances on the Colbert-helmed “Late Show” in 2016 and 2020.
Watch a clip of Colbert’s update below.
The conversation will be Colbert and Obama’s last televised chat for the program, as the comedian’s show is set to end on CBS in May.
In January, CBS locked in the final air date for “The Late Show,” which will be May 21. The decision followed CBS’ announcement last summer, in which they shared that “The Late Show” would be coming to an end shortly after Colbert mocked Paramount’s $16 million settlement with President Donald Trump, blasting the move as a “big fat bribe.”
However, CBS executives noted at the time that the cancellation decision was purely a financial one.
“I’m not being replaced. This is all just going away,” Colbert noted during a July monologue. “And I do want to say that the folks at CBS have been great partners. I’m so grateful to the Tiffany Network for giving me this chair and this beautiful theater to call home. And of course I’m grateful to you, the audience, who have joined us every night in here out there all around the world.”
While Colbert has carried on with the show, he admitted in January during an appearance on “Late Night with Seth Meyers” that his show’s cancellation was starting to feel real.
“It feels real now,” Colbert told Meyers. “It did not feel … I mean, I know it was real, but now, there’s four months left. You know, the shows are fun to do. But what I really love is the people I do it with.”
“We’ll do something else together, but it feels real now,” Colbert further shared. “I’m not thrilled with it.”
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
