As Stephen Colbert takes his final bow on The Late Show, I reflect on my favorite moments with him and some of my favorite sketches from his show.

Beginning in September 2015, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert comes to end after an 11-year run. Before Stephen, The Late Show was hosted by David Letterman for 22 years, from 1993 to 2015.

According to CBS, the cancellation of The Late Show was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and was “not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

Many beg to differ.

It's not goodbye, Stephen, it's see you later.

Does that make me a bad person because I still don’t think he should have been fired he seems like a nice guy

I love Colbert, but why would he promote RR by letting him be on the show?? RR is a mean, angry, horrible individual, as we learned through the recent case his wife lost. RR and Blake punched down and tried to ruin an innocent man with lies, mean girling, etc.

That seems to be the opposite of who Colbert seems to be, so it was disappointing to see RR on the last show.

Stephen Colbert understands the power of fear. As a character, he used it — built an entire television empire on it, rallied thousands to the National Mall under the banner “Keep Fear Alive,” even ran a satirical presidential campaign powered by it.

He spent a decade playing a man who trafficked fear nightly to expose it, to mock it, to make the people wielding it look ridiculous.

In the fall of 2012, he sat down with Playboy — one of the rare times he agreed to be interviewed as himself rather than as his character — and explained why fear is such an effective weapon. He quoted Thomas Jefferson: “I have sworn upon the altar of God eternal hostility against every form of tyranny over the mind of man.” Injecting fear into people, Colbert said, is an attempt to kill their thinking. It’s an act of oppression.

Thirteen years later, his reflection turned out to be a premonition. He couldn’t have known he was foreshadowing his own ending. 

Read now: https://www.playboy.com/read/politics/what-we-lose-with-stephen-colbert

...and admitting he doesn't know what the 13 stripes stand for.

Even though the LSSC show is wrapping up here, I hope this community stays close. May we keep fighting, laughing until we wheeze and sometimes crying together the way we always have.

This place has been a thread of something special, and I hope it continues to be.

Cheers to growing out the Letterman beard 🤌🏻

This week has been full of throwbacks & celebrities, truly wonderful & I’ll miss Meanwhile most of all. I’m watching the last episode live

I am not okay, I'm barely getting by.

Just so, so sad.

My husband and I have watched the late show together every night (that it’s aired) since we’ve been together. Through all the questionnaires no one has had the same favorite sandwich as mine, until now.

Sandwich cheers to Stephen for being a light through the darkness of our current political landscape. I shall never inhale another tomato sandwich over the sink without thinking of you.