\n<\/p>\n
Stephen Colbert spent a decade obsessing over President Donald Trump.<\/p>\n
For his final \u201cLate Show\u201d appearance, the far-Left host wouldn\u2019t so much as utter Trump\u2019s name. By design, of course.<\/p>\n
Thursday\u2019s CBS finale proved a bizarre affair, a forced repudiation of what Colbert & co. built over the show\u2019s 11-year run. He pretended he was Johnny Carson signing off for the last time, an aw, shucks comic looking back on a show filled with gentle riffs on news and culture.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Late Show\u201d was anything but that.<\/p>\n
Still, Colbert must have decided not to give his literal devil his due. That left an hour-plus affair that felt dishonest and jarring. Think a mashup of forced gratitude and weak-tea jokes.<\/p>\n
\u201cThe Late Show\u201d went out not with Clapter but by defying its true nature.<\/p>\n
The veteran host began with charity to both the gig and his employers.<\/p>\n
\u201cWe were lucky enough to be here for the last 11 years \u2026 we can\u2019t take that for granted,\u201d he said, despite having attacked the Tiffany Network early and often since it announced his cancellation last July.<\/p>\n
Remember how, mere days ago, Colbert and former \u201cLate Show\u201d host David Letterman watched as employees hurled furniture from atop the Ed Sullivan Theater to target the CBS logo waiting below?<\/p>\n
Lucky or spiteful? Colbert can\u2019t make up his mind. Still.<\/p>\n
Celebrities in the crowd interrupted Colbert\u2019s final monologue, including Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tig Notaro, Ryan Reynolds, and \u201cSaturday Night Live\u201d veteran Tim Meadows. None proved funny, but the star power fed Colbert\u2019s assertion that his cancellation will be a loss for the culture.<\/p>\n
It\u2019s actually more painful for stars who will have one less outlet to hawk their films, TV shows, and records.<\/p>\n
Colbert described his late-night approach as \u201cfeeling the news with you\u201d over the years, which made even less sense than his trademark \u201ctruthiness<\/span><\/a>\u201d shtick.<\/p>\n He lectured audiences on how to process the news headlines and avoided stories that hurt his fellow Democrats. But he couldn\u2019t say that aloud. Not even on his final night.<\/p>\n That last monologue avoided politics entirely, including a certain world leader. The results were tepid, like a weak spin on what Jay Leno shared for more than two decades on NBC\u2019s \u201cThe Tonight Show.\u201d<\/p>\n Colbert\u2019s heart wasn\u2019t in it. Nor were the writers\u2019, apparently.<\/p>\n Yet throughout the night, Colbert flashed his considerable skills as a host and comic. He always had solid timing and delivery chops. That was never in question.<\/p>\n \u201cWhat do I plan to do after tonight? The answer is, \u2018drugs,\u2019\u201d he quipped, turning a milquetoast joke into a solid laugh.<\/p>\n Still, throughout the night, Colbert\u2019s rage at his dismissal and anti-Trump fury peeked through. One daffy dolphin sketch included a line suggesting his dismissal \u201cwas purely a financial decision.\u201d<\/p>\n Yes, a network has every right to cancel a show that loses a reported $40 million a year.<\/span><\/a> No one has disputed that number, shared at the time of the show\u2019s cancellation. Yet the legacy media and Colbert himself have done all they could to ignore that inconvenient truth.<\/p>\n Colbert played the rebellious employee to the end, forcing his band to play a classic \u201cPeanuts\u201d song he claimed could get CBS in legal hot water. Unlikely, but this Rebel Without a Cause never took any prisoners.<\/p>\n He played The Victim and Martyr Cards to the bitter end.<\/p>\n The final episode did land a stellar guest \u2013 Sir Paul McCartney.<\/p>\n Sir Paul remains miraculously unaffected by both Father Time and the fact that he\u2019s Paul Bleepin\u2019 McCartney. He\u2019s just a funny, unassuming lad from Liverpool. Still.<\/p>\n The final interview was far from Colbert\u2019s best, but the moment didn\u2019t require a Walter Cronkite-level interrogation. Macca merely played along with the bits, an old pro delivering as usual.<\/p>\n McCartney did allow for two Trumpian references. He shared how he had to wear bright orange makeup when he appeared with his old band<\/span><\/a> at The Ed Sullivan Theater back in 1964.<\/p>\n \u201cI hear that\u2019s popular in certain circles these days,\u201d Colbert said.<\/p>\n The host didn\u2019t lean into that Orange Man Bad shtick, though. He wanted to make his final show about him, not the man who became his White Whale and drained the humor from him.<\/p>\n McCartney attempted a second Trumpian reference, explaining what it meant to play in America for the first time, way back when.<\/p>\n \u201cAmerica was the land of the free, the greatest democracy \u2026 that\u2019s what it was, and still is hopefully,\u201d the singer said, another wink to Colbert\u2019s far-Left faithful.<\/p>\n Then things got \u2026 weird.<\/p>\n A recurring bit throughout the night found The Ed Sullivan Theater flooded with an odd green light. Later, backstage, a green wormhole appeared, ready to suck Colbert and everyone in the studio into a void.<\/p>\n They even trotted out astrophysicist Neil deGrasse Tyson to quasi-explain it.<\/p>\n You\u2019ve got the number one late-night talk show but you\u2019re still getting canceled, Tyson said, another attempt to ignore that $40 million annual loss.<\/p>\n \u201cIt\u2019s not a hole, it\u2019s a metaphor,\u201d said Jon Stewart, offering his old \u201cDaily Show\u201d chum some wisdom.<\/p>\n \u201cWhen faced with something dark … stare it down and laugh,\u201d Stewart said, sharing some final wisdom for his pal. Colbert got paid untold millions for hosting a talk show, will write a future \u201cLord of the Rings\u201d movie, and will likely host a podcast or similar program before the year ends.<\/p>\n If only the rest of us faced such dark challenges.<\/p>\n Then, Colbert\u2019s other late-night hosts dropped by (except Bill Maher, who wouldn\u2019t be caught dead in such stale shtick) for more forced gaiety.<\/p>\n The show wrapped with McCartney performing The Beatles\u2019 \u201cHello, Goodbye\u201d while Colbert sang backup with Elvis Costello, ex-\u201cLate Show\u201d bandleader Jon Batiste, and the band\u2019s current head honcho, Louis Cato.<\/p>\n \u201cThis may come for all of our shows,\u201d fellow far-Left talker John Oliver said late in the final episode, referencing Colbert\u2019s fate. Yes, it will, and likely sooner than later. Even Letterman predicted as much recently.<\/span><\/a><\/p>\n And everyone in The Ed Sullivan Theater on Thursday was likely in denial as to why.<\/p>\n ***<\/p>\n Christian Toto is an award-winning journalist, movie critic and editor of\u00a0<\/i>HollywoodInToto.com<\/i><\/span><\/a>. He previously served as associate editor with Breitbart News’ Big Hollywood.\u00a0He’s also the host of <\/i>The Hollywood in Toto Podcast<\/i><\/span><\/a>. Follow him at\u00a0<\/i>@HollywoodInToto<\/i><\/span><\/a>.\u00a0<\/i><\/p>\n