Adam Sandler, Anderson Cooper, Jon Stewart and Jimmy Fallon were among those who made surprise appearances on Monday's episode after CBS announced that the late-night show would be ending in May 2026.

In his monologue opening Monday’s “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert ,” Colbert spoke about Trump’s exulting over CBS ‘s sudden decision to axe the show. “I absolutely love that Colbert got fired. His talent was even less than his ratings,” the U.S. president wrote on Truth Social on Friday.

This is the joke Stephen Colbert started his Monday night monologue off with, just a few days after the news broke that The Late Show is being cancelled by CBS — shortly after Colbert called out the network's parent company, Paramount, for what he described as "a big fat bribe" paid to President Donald Trump.