CBS killed The Late Show three days after Stephen Colbert after years of declining ratings and massive budgets.
Now the former late night host is looking for his next gig.
And Jimmy Kimmel just went public with a specific plan to put Colbert back behind a late-night desk.
Kimmel Invited Colbert to Guest Host and Colbert Said No
Jimmy Kimmel told Variety this week that he personally invited Stephen Colbert to guest host Jimmy Kimmel Live! during his summer break.
Colbert said no.
"I asked him, and I think it feels premature," Kimmel said. "But I told him, 'Anytime you want to host, it doesn't matter if it's the summer, I'll gladly step aside.'"
While Colbert sits on the sidelines, Kimmel's summer lineup has moved forward without him – and Kimmel made sure Trump noticed.
Kimmel personally recruited Rosie O'Donnell to guest host for a full week in August. "As a special treat for our commander-in-chief, I asked one of his all-time favorites, Rosie O'Donnell, to be here to keep the hits coming," Kimmel told his audience. "So, you're welcome."
Tiffany Haddish, Ike Barinholtz, Colman Domingo, and Anthony Anderson round out the rest of the summer rotation.
Kimmel is booking Trump's enemies list and trolling the president on national television. Colbert – the man CBS fired for being too confrontational – declined the invitation to join him.
The man who spent a decade lecturing America about courage just passed on his fastest path back to a national audience because the timing felt a little awkward.
For someone who called his own corporate bosses corrupt on live television, "it feels premature" is a remarkable answer.
Kimmel Broke a 23-Year Ratings Record the Month Colbert Left CBS
The backstory matters here.
CBS announced The Late Show cancellation in July 2025 – three days after Colbert went on air and called Paramount's $16 million Trump settlement a "big fat bribe."
Paramount needed the Trump administration's FCC approval to complete its Skydance merger. CBS called it a financial decision.
Colbert's show was losing $40 million a year. Trump celebrated the cancellation on Truth Social the morning after it was announced.
The final episode aired May 21, 2026, drawing 6.74 million viewers – the most-watched weeknight episode in the show's entire run. Then CBS replaced him with Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed, a time-buy block where the network is paid to air the program.
Kimmel's show filled the vacuum. Jimmy Kimmel Live! posted 3.15 million viewers in June – the highest monthly average in the show's history – up 17 percent from May, with the 18-49 demographic more than doubling overnight.
Kimmel thanked CBS for the windfall. "The ratings are very strong, which we are very grateful to CBS for their wisdom," he told Variety. He described his show as an "orphanage" for viewers Colbert left behind.
Colbert's audience did not disappear when CBS canceled him. They migrated to a competitor's desk – and Colbert turned down the invitation to reclaim them.
Gutfeld Already Won Late Night Before Colbert Left
Gutfeld! outdrawn Colbert for 21 consecutive months before CBS pulled the plug. In 2025, Greg Gutfeld averaged 3.1 million viewers while Colbert sat at 1.9 million and Kimmel managed 1.5 million.
Kimmel's record-breaking June still trailed what Gutfeld posts on a slow week.
The viewers who walked away from liberal late night did not end up at Kimmel's orphanage. They found Gutfeld years ago and stayed. Kimmel's June surge was Colbert's former audience with nowhere else to land, not a verdict on anyone's talent.
Gutfeld earned his numbers without a legacy network absorbing the losses and without inheriting a desk David Letterman built over three decades. He built an audience by treating half the country like it deserved to laugh instead of be corrected.
That is the late-night story the entertainment press refuses to write. Colbert didn't lose because CBS betrayed him. He lost the ratings war two years before the cancellation – to a Fox News host his industry spent years pretending didn't count.
Kimmel's invitation still stands. Colbert can step behind a late-night desk anytime he decides the moment is right.
The audience Gutfeld courted are not waiting for that answer.
Sources:
- Andrew Chapados, "Jimmy Kimmel has a plan to get Stephen Colbert back on late-night TV," Blaze Media, July 23, 2026.
- "Jimmy Kimmel Thanks CBS for His Ratings Gains, Invites Stephen Colbert to Guest Host," Variety, July 22, 2026.
- "Fox News' Greg Gutfeld Dominates Late-Night Television Ratings as CBS Ends Colbert's 'Late Show,'" Fox News, July 2025.
- "Here Are Final Late Night Ratings for Q1 2026," LateNighter, June 5, 2026.