ENTERTAINMENTStephen Colbert's 'Late Show' Set Begins Its Second Act in Chicago
Stephen Colbert’s original ‘Late Show’ set moved into a permanent Chicago museum.
Oct. 10 2026, Published 8:33 a.m. ET
Stephen Colbert’s Late Show set has traded New York television for a permanent place in Chicago’s comedy and broadcasting history.
The Museum of Broadcast Communications held a ribbon cutting, media preview and reception for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert exhibition on October 1. The exhibit opened to the public October 2 at the museum’s West Randolph Street location.
The ‘Late Show’ Moves Into a Museum
The exhibition displayed Stephen Colbert’s desk, stage pieces and memorabilia from the program.
The installation presents the original set inside a specially constructed, scaled recreation of the stage at the Ed Sullivan Theater.
Visitors can see Colbert’s desk, scenic backdrop, fixtures, set pieces and guest chairs. The collection also includes the suit he wore for his September 8, 2015, premiere, Emmy artifacts and the chair Paul McCartney used during the final episode.
CBS donated the ‘Late Show’ marquee for preservation alongside the original set materials.
CBS also donated the exterior Late Show marquee for preservation and future display. The sign hung outside the Ed Sullivan Theater, which hosted the program for Colbert’s 11-year hosting run before his final broadcast on May 21, 2026.
“This is more than the preservation of a television set,” said David Plier, chairman, president and CEO of the Museum of Broadcast Communications. “It is the preservation of the creativity and storytelling that brought The Late Show with Stephen Colbert to life for more than a decade.”
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An Era of Shared Political Comedy
The museum preserved the set as a symbol of late-night comedy and political satire.
“Preserving Stephen Colbert’s Late Show set as a cultural artifact tells us something larger than simply that Colbert has been an important television figure,” said Sophia A. McClennen, Professor of International Affairs and Comparative Literature at Penn State University and author of Modern Political Satire: An Introduction.
“We tend to preserve cultural spaces when we begin to recognize that the world they represent is changing,” she explained. “The late-night set represents an era when millions of people gathered around a relatively small number of television programs.”
The Late Show originally premiered in 1993, with David Letterman serving as host until passing the reins to Colbert in 2015.
Why Stephen Colbert’s Set Matters
Stephen Colbert’s Chicago connections added significance to the exhibition honoring his television career.
Colbert has strong connections to Chicago, where he studied at Northwestern University and began his comedy career, including performing at The Second City.
“Few comedians have occupied such a distinctive place at the intersection of comedy, politics, and public life,” McClennen said of Colbert, noting his prior work on The Colbert Report, following his breakthrough on The Daily Show.
“His work spans a remarkable period of transformation in both American politics and the media landscape,” she added.
Satire now travels through memes, podcasts and social media clips, broadening participation while weakening late-night television’s position as a shared cultural space.
“Preserving Colbert’s set is almost like preserving the physical architecture of an earlier media era,” McClennen said. “It recognizes both Colbert’s distinctive place in the history of American political satire and late-night comedy as an important part of our political and cultural history.”
