On Colbert's Exit, The Church, and Solidarity
Stephen, Paul & Bruce + One of the Best Things I've Ever Read #5
šŗ WATCH: A clip of my discussion with CJ Farley on Colbertās CBS exit. More from my chat with him coming soon.
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I FIRST MET STEPHEN COLBERT one night in 1999 on the NYC subway, long before he had achieved anything close to his current fame. When I see someone reading Rumi, I feel compelled to at least say āhiāāthatās what he was doing, and thatās what I did.
At the time, he was one of a cadre of correspondents on The Daily Showāa cast that played a huge role is reshaping the news. We started talking about Rumi, and he invited me backstage at a future taping. Starting in 1998, I had been sending about 30-50 Columbia J-school students a month to attend tapings. The show had reached out under the original host, Craig Kilborn, to put journalistic butts in the seats, a practice that continued when Jon Stewart took over.
So when I told Stephen that I send students anyway, he insisted I call him (few people texted in those days). I went along one time, he came out, we chatted, and I introduced him to the students with me. It was a better time: No selfies, no cameras, just a human connection. I later then invited him to come speak at the J-school, as quoted here in Newsweek:
Sreenath Sreenivasan, a journalism professor at Columbia University, has invited āDaily Showā correspondent Stephen Colbert to lecture, because he thinks the witty take on dumb conventions of broadcasting serves as a primer on what not to do.
āIt should be mandatory watching for anyone who produces journalism,ā says Sreenivasan. Consider one hilarious sendup 24 hours after the New Hampshire primary: correspondents Nancy Walls and Vance DeGeneres whooped it up with McCain backers while Mo Rocca shivered pointlessly outside in the cold.
For Colbert, the ensuing 27 years saw him rise to TV comedy royalty. Now, his 11-year run at the helm of The Late Show has ended. In fact, the entire showāstarted by comedy legend David Lettermanāhas been relegated to the dustbin of TV history. We can debate the viability of late-night comedy on linear TV but thatās not the discussion to have about Colbertās CBS exit.
None other than Paul McCartney saw Colbert off. An incredible few minutes of television:
This is the final 4 minutes and 34 seconds of the show, with McCartney performing and the showās staff dancing their way onto the stage:
The reason heās out is Donald Trump. More precisely, Colbert is out because major American media companies (and non-media companies, alike) are helmed by feckless people who canāt help but bend the knee to Trumpās bullying and extortion. Donāt take my word for it. As Bruce Springsteen himself told Colbert during his performance on his penultimate show: āYouāre the first guy in America who has lost his show because we have a president who canāt take a joke.ā And then he specifically called out Larry and David Ellison (who now own CBS, Paramount Skydance, etc, etc, etc):
On July 15, 2025, Colbert opened his monologue with a stinging indictment of CBS parent company Paramountās $16-million āsettlementā with Trump over what Trump claimed was a misleadingly edited interview with then-presidential candidate Kamala Harris. Three days later, he announced that CBS was cancelling the show.
Colbertās exit, and the end of The Late Show, is emblematic of so much about our modern era itās impossible to know where to start. In Colbertās case, heās proven beyond the shadow of a doubt that he is a man of the utmost character and integrity.
Beyond his jokes and storytelling abilities, what made him so compelling to me is his faith and how he lives it. Colbert does not shy away from talking about his faith; heās a practicing Catholic. One of my favorite clips is when Dua Lipa asked him about how his faith overlaps with his comedyāelite comedy, from a true professional of the craft. Itās a great question, and his response is just beautiful.
Colbert understands that the core tenets of most religions would be almost socialistic if examined closely: Welcoming the stranger, sacrificing for your neighbor, feeding the hungry, helping those in need of it most.
Itās such a pivotal time for Catholicism in America. Chicagoan Pope Leo XIV is proving to be as advertised: A sharp mind whose view of what The Church should be is rooted in his many (many) years in Peru. Heās still the Pope, so I grant that āliberal Popeā is a misnomer in and of itself. I wish Colbert had landed him for the final showāheās called interviewing the Pope his āwhite whaleā. [I have not yet read the Popeās AI Encyclical, but hereās my friend Jamie Metzl, author of āThe AI Ten Commandmentsā co-authored by GPT-5(!).]
Having a mainstream TV host like Colbert gives me faith in people of faith. The vast majority of people of faith that Iāve met living in seven countries around the world live genuinely giving, thoughtful lives that are driven by that faith. They are kind to others, they help when they can (and often when they canāt), they simply want to live a life of consequence, regardless of the reach of that consequence. Itās admirable, and, in most cases, it is the very fabric of community.
It is not an instrument of hate, racism, inequality, and the rest of the worldās illsāitās people trying to erase those very things based on their religious beliefs. When people see Colbert talking about his faith, and acting on it with his extensive philanthropic and charity work, they see the best of the faith-based life. They also are probably reminded of the many times they saw such things in their own community.
Take that step back, look at how you want to interact with world around you. Look at the people advocating for those without advocates. Houses of faith are doing the work at the local level, and often having those initiatives desecrated by so many of their wayward brothers and sisters in positions of immense power and influence.
You know the Jeff Bezos and Elon Musk business exploits, but the Ellisons have built an empire, and they are expanding it by seemingly by the week. This piece from February 2026, by John Koblin and Brooks Barnes, for The New York Times, has a great rundown of the family portfolio. Last week, James Murdoch (I think you recognize the name), paid $300 million for half of Vox Media. Something like a dozen people control essentially everything you see on TV.
It makes bending the knee all that much easier, when your empire is so large it has its own gravitational pull. Now, Colbert is out at CBS because itās cheaper to take him off the air than it is to have Trump post on Truth Social against you.
Springsteen, as he often does, has the right words. Here he is, from āBadlandsā in 1981:
āPoor man wanna be richā
āRich man wanna be kingā
āAnd a king aināt satisfied ātil he rules everythingā
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40% of 2026 is already over. What will you do with the remaining 60%? LMK and Iāll see you made it all the way down here.
One of the Best Things Iāve Ever Read #5
Weāre aiming to create the best reading/viewing/listening list possible. Itās quite simpleāwe are crowdsourcing the writing that has stuck with you, that one piece you read last month, last year, or 20 years ago, that has stuck in your brain. This week, itās an excellent addition from my friend and colleague Jennifer Lazarus.
Title: āHow Far Would You Go for a Breast?ā [Internet Archive link]
By: Melissa Dahl, New York Magazine (October 2025)
From Jennifer:
This is a topic that has not been covered before in such depth, and with clinical research to back up the claims. The average breast cancer lifetime risk for a woman in the U.S. is about 1 in 8, with over 4 million women currently living with breast cancer in the U.S.
Add the 200k-300k BRCA 1+2 carriers, and a very large percentage of the female population that is facing, or dealing with, post-mastectomies reconstructive surgery. It can be a debilitating, painful years-long process for many women, some of whom never get the results they are seeking, and breast reconstructive surgeons do not adequately prepare women for this journey.
Jennifer Lazarus is a Columbia Journalism School-trained content strategist with 20+ years of experience building digital ecosystems for lifestyle, health, and mission-driven brands.
If you have a story to share, please do!
Have an idea for anything weāre up to? Letās collaborate! sree.sreenivasan1@gmail.com
Thanks for sharing your history with Colbert. I had no idea! We went to a Late Show a couple years ago and I will always be grateful we participated in what is now historical programming. Out of respect for him, I went by to photograph the exterior Colbert sign on the theatre 5/21 its final show before dashing home to watch him say farewell with McCartney. We also saw the recent Springsteen concert at MSG. Brave and inspiring.
The only reason why Colbert & Kimmel were threatened by the FCC, is Brendan Carr was told to threaten CBS & NBC with license to air their programming and also stop any possibility of successfully getting approval by the Trump Regime for mergers with potential business suitors. Why was Brendan Carr told to do this by his boss, President Trump? Because Donald J. Trump has the thinnest skin on the planet. Heās a fragile narcissist who has always been his own number one fan, and he cannot take a joke. So he threatens vengeance every chance he gets to those who are not in his fan club.
Heās a pathetic loser of a human being who will never ever be trusted by the American People again in what he has left of this lifetime. Similar to his idol, Adolph Hitler, his name will always be the equivalent to a swear word in his own country.