7 of the worst highlights from Stephen Colbert's 11-year run as 'Late Show' host

Stephen Colbert hosts his final episode of the Late Show on Thursday, bringing a merciful end to 11 years of a once proud TV franchise that, on Colbert's watch, was unfunny and uninspired drivel at its best, and, at its worst, a nightly orgy of Trump Derangement Syndrome that alienated half of the American population, if not more. 

CBS announced plans to cancel the show last summer, but allowed Colbert to finish his 11th season, which has made for a long and painful goodbye. Not only had the show been unfunny for more than a decade, it was a major money loser for the network. According to CBS, the Late Show lost an astounding $40 million in 2025, while the overall cost to produce the show had ballooned to $100 million a year. Colbert's salary was a reported $15 million a year. 

As the sun sets on the Late Show, Colbert is being blamed for having damaged the entire late-night TV format with his signature brand of toxic partisan rancor, according to Brian Steinberg of Variety. USA Today columnist Tim Swarens summed up Colbert's impact on the medium another way. "Stephen Colbert, the smug host of CBS’s The Late Show, is a classic example of why echo chambers are doomed to fail." Quite a legacy.

To commemorate Colbert's demise, we're throwing a little Rubin Report funeral for Stephen, to remember just how bad it was at its worst. Below are seven of the worst, TDS-soaked moments from Colbert's run as host of the once-proud late-night franchise.

We also have a bonus for you as well -- one good moment from the show, a startling trip down memory lane to a quaint time in September 2015, before the TDS had fully infected Colbert's brain, when the host actually told Trump to his face, "I'm liking you, too."

Goodbye, Stephen. We hope to never hear from you again. And now onto the list:

7. Colbert helps James Comey promote the 'Russia, Russia, Russia' hoax about President Trump

6. Colbert partners with CNN's Jake Tapper to spread misinformation about Trump

5. Colbert lets man whose entire career is pretending to be something he's not call Trump a 'fake president' 

3. Colbert's cringefest celebration of Biden's 'win' in the 2020 presidential election

2. Colbert launders Jim Comey's lie about his '86 47' Instagram post

1. Colbert does 180 on COVID 'Vax-Scene'

BONUS: One actual good highlight from Colbert's CBS career