Remembering The Late Show’s Best Musical Moments & More
“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” will have its much talked about series finale on Thursday, May 21, 2026. It brings an official end to “the late” CBS shows which began in 1993 when David Letterman jumped from NBC to CBS to create “The Late Show with David Letterman” as counter programming to “The Tonight Show with Jay Leno” on NBC at 11:30pm ET. CBS added “The Late Late Show with Tom Snyder” at 12:30am ET in January 1995 to counter program “Late Night with Conan O’Brien” on NBC in Letterman’s old NBC time spot. Colbert took over for Letterman as “The Late Show” host in 2015.
It is not just Colbert going away from the network, it is the complete cancellation of all of the traditional late night talk shows on CBS. “The Late Late Show with James Corden” was canceled in 2023 (Corden replaced Craig Ferguson as host in 2015, Ferguson replaced Craig Kilborn in 2005, Kilborn replaced original host Tom Snyder in 1999). CBS briefly aired “After Midnight” hosted by Taylor Tomlinson for a couple of season to replace “The Late Late Show” but then they mutually decided to part ways and the show was discontinued.
When the announcement was made earlier this decade about the future of “The Late Late Show” we were told by one of our limited sources in the entertainment industry, “The Late Show itself is safe… at least for now.” Based on those comments, Colbert’s dismissal wasn’t a surprise to us despite having a highly rated show. We were informed the late night lineup had not been profitable for CBS “in several years” and were were also told at the time NBC’s late night lineup wasn’t doing much better. “The Tonight Show starring Jimmy Fallon” and “Late Night with Seth Meyers” were of course renewed since then by NBC. Over at ABC, Jimmy Kimmel previously stated that he didn’t think a late night show would continue there whenever he decides to retire as host.
The late night shows were always an invaluable service personally to us over the decades. Despite living in a Top 20 radio market (previously a Top 10 radio market), we never got to hear a lot of the interesting and obscure musical acts that Letterman, Colbert, Conan, etc. showcased each week. Instead, we were in a market of Top 40 Hits and classic rock. We would have never discovered new artists or music legends debuting new albums without these TV shows. Letterman and Conan could “put over” artists and albums like nobody else could. With Colbert going away, and ABC announcing months ago that Kimmel can only have music acts twice a week now, it sadly means less places for music artists to perform on live traditional TV.
Here are some of our favorite musical moments as well as some other favorite moments from “The Late Show” and “The Late Late Show” on CBS as we “fire up a colortini and watch the pictures as they fly through the air”:
We’re a long way from Christmas but we can’t mention any of this without Darlene Love. She performed her hit “Christmas (Baby Please Come Home)” for Letterman from 1986 to 2014, going with him from the NBC years to his final Christmas season at CBS. It was a long running tradition.
Van Morrison tries to throw Sinead O’Connor off her game and almost headbutts her while performing a duet of his classic “Have I Told You Lately” accompanied by The Chieftains.
Drew Barrymore gives Letterman a big surprise for his birthday.
Bob Dylan with a rare and stirring American late night TV performance on one of the last episodes of “The Late Show with David Letterman”.
Elvis Costello and Burt Bacharach perform a couple of songs from their sublime album “Painted From Memory”which were also featured on the “Grace Of My Heart” movie soundtrack.
The Who’s Pete Townshend and Pearl Jam’s Eddie Vedder team up to duet “Heart To Hang Onto” to promote Townshend’s live album. The song was originally done with Townshend and Ronnie Lane on their “Rough Mix” album in 1977.
The Who reunite once again to perform “A Man In A Purple Dress” from their 2006 album “Endless Wire”. It was their first studio album since 1982’s “It’s Hard”.
Al Green and Lyle Lovett duet. It was another tradition when Green performed on Letterman.
Janelle Monae uses Letterman’s desk during a performance.
Future Islands with a wonderfully unique and intense performance that had Letterman talking for several days after.
St. Paul and The Broken Bones on The Late Late Show with their soulful hit “Call Me”.
Fiona Apple with a rare TV performance on The Late Late Show.
Vintage Trouble with their retro style on The Late Late Show.
Craig Ferguson introduces the debut of his robot sidekick to The Late Late Show in grand fashion. Geoff Peterson would remain as co-host with Ferguson on the until Ferguson’s departure from the show.
Paul Weller performs on The Late Late Show during the Craig Kilborn era.
Tom Snyder interviews the always ornery author Harlan Ellison on The Late Late Show.
Tom Snyder gives an opening monologue with his classic catchphrase at the end.
MUNA (featuring Phoebe Bridgers) performs “Silk Chiffon” on The Late Late Show with James Corden.
Paul McCartney does Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.
Elton John does Carpool Karaoke with James Corden.
Lake Street Dive on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. We had to make sure to include them in the list because they have a sweet and touching history with Colbert. They made their TV with him back when he was on Comedy Central as the host of The Colbert Report in 2014. He made sure they still got booked with him when he moved to CBS.
Stephen Colbert interviews Nick Cave in a very profound conversation about grief and hope.
Stephen Colbert and David Letterman talk about their favorite musical performers on the show.
The Talking Heads reunion on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to promote the re-release of “Stop Making Sense” in theaters.
Sleater-Kinney, regular favorites on all of the late night talk shows over the last couple of decades.
St. Vincent covers David Bowie on Colbert.
Chappell Roan makes her late night TV debut on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Kacey Musgraves performs “Late To The Party” on Colbert.
Stephen Colbert sings with John Prine.
