Jimmy Kimmel To Air Rerun During Stephen Colbert’s Final Episode

In a nod to his longtime friend, Jimmy Kimmel will air a repeat episode on Thursday, May 21, during Stephen Colbert‘s final episode as host of his CBS late-night show.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will air new episodes Monday through Wednesday of that week, but will go dark on Thursday “out of deference to Colbert’s sendoff,” per LateNighter.

It’s not a first for Kimmel. He also aired a rerun on the night of David Letterman’s final Late Show on May 20, 2015, out of respect for a comedian he idolized. “I have too much respect for Dave to do anything that would distract viewers from watching his final show,” Kimmel said at the time. Kimmel took over The Late Show from Letterman and is now wrapping up his eleventh year as host.

During Colbert’s run the show has earned numerous honors, including several Emmys, including Outstanding Talk Series, and a Peabody award.

In a shocking move, CBS announced in July 2025, that it was ending The Late Show franchise in 2026. At the time CBS said it was “purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night” and “is not related in any way to the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.” The “other matters” likely were CBS’ parent company Paramount’s efforts to complete a merger with David Ellison-owned Skydance.

The cancellation also coincides with Colbert’s contract coming up at the end of 2026, and it came days after Colbert called Paramount Global’s $16M settlement of Donald Trump’s lawsuit a “big fat bribe.”