NEWSOprah Winfrey Swaps Seats With Stephen Colbert in Emotional Exit Interview: Watch
Preparing to say goodbye to his long-running late-night show, Stephen Colbert swapped seats with Oprah Winfrey in an emotional interview.
April 8 2026, Published 2:24 p.m. ET
During an emotional appearance on The Late Show on Tuesday, April 7, Oprah Winfrey surprised host Stephen Colbert by taking his seat to conduct a "role reversal" exit interview as his tenure nears its end.
Winfrey moved from the interviewee chair to the host's desk, asking Colbert personal questions about the show's upcoming conclusion on May 21.
She asked Colbert what he felt ready to "release" before he goes. Colbert responded emotionally, saying he still had a "white-knuckle grip" on the people he loves and works with.
Stephen Colbert's show will end in May.
"So, as you're standing here at the threshold," she said, as the audience laughed knowingly, "of what's about to be done and what you're stepping into. What do you feel like in this moment you most want to release?"
Colbert, who has hosted the show since 2015, replied, “I still have a white-knuckle grip on all these people who I love, who I've worked with all these years, including those people over there,” pointing to his band, camera crew and staff.
Both hosts bonded over their connection to live audiences. Winfrey described the audience as a "mirror," sharing that she nearly didn't have one when she first started AM Chicago and had to invite people in from the street.
Stephen Colbert thinks his show is being canceled due to political reasons.
Colbert described the audience as the "third person" in every conversation, noting their "pure engagement" makes him more honest and authentic.
CBS recently announced the cancelation of The Late Show franchise, allegedly due to financial reasons, ending over three decades of the network's late-night tradition.
While CBS cited "purely financial" reasons, Colbert, along with many critics and politicians, believes the move was political.
It occurred days after Colbert criticized a $16 million settlement between CBS's parent company, Paramount, and President Donald Trump.
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The network thanked the host for his show.
The network, which has recently undergone what critics have deemed a “MAGA Makeover,” thanked Colbert for his show, which remains the top-rated 11:35 p.m. late-night show in total viewers, averaging roughly 2.43 million weekly viewers.
"We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late-night television," the network said in a statement. "This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night. It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content, or other matters happening at Paramount.”
The time slot will be filled by a comedy block.
Colbert, who said he is transitioning to film, specifically co-writing a new Lord of the Rings movie titled Shadow of the Past with screenwriter Philippa Boyens, noted that CBS killed his show entirely.
"It's not just the end of our show, but it's the end of The Late Show on CBS," he said. "I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away."
Starting May 22, the time slot will be filled by a comedy block featuring Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed and Funny You Should Ask.
