Sam Bee Nails A Brutal Truth Of Colbert’s Cancellation

Former “Full Frontal” host Samantha Bee has weighed in on CBS’s decision to cancel “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” calling it “awful” but ultimately unsurprising and “such a no-brainer” for the network.

Bee, during an appearance on the latest episode of Tom Papa’s “Breaking Bread” podcast, said she was “shocked but not surprised” at the nixing of the late-night franchise.

“These legacy shows, they are hemorrhaging money with no real end to that in sight,” she said. “People are just not tuning in, even remotely, comparatively, to how they used to. People are literally on their phones all the time, for one thing, so they actually don’t necessarily need a recap of the day’s events. They are very well-versed in what has happened.”

Papa had noted how “The Late Show,” on which Colbert frequently pokes fun at and slams Trump, was losing a reported $40 million a year. CBS parent company Paramount had also been seeking the approval of the Trump administration over its now-approved merger with Skydance, he added.

“When the president of the United States has to give his sign-off on a corporate merger, the thing you can’t do is make jokes about him,” said Bee. “He’s a thin-skinned idiot. We know he’s like a pernicious cancer and he cares about that stuff.”

Reflecting on her own experience at TBS — where her show was canceled in 2022 after seven seasons — Bee said mergers often make late night shows vulnerable.

“It was a constant source of conversation,” she said. “When a huge corporate merger is happening, nobody wants to cause trouble. Business trumps everything. It doesn’t matter what your values are, it doesn’t matter how important you think legacy media is, none of that fucking matters when you are talking about millionaires and billionaires making their business transactions.”

In Colbert’s case, she suggested there had been conversations held to try to turn around the financial plight of the show but she argued it would have been “so much easier for them to cut it loose with this merger coming down the pike.”

CBS has announced “The Late Show” will end in May 2026.

Since the cancellation news broke, Colbert has increasingly leaned into mocking both Trump and the network, moves that have prompted speculation that his time helming the program could come to an end before the scheduled time.

Papa suggested Colbert could follow in the footsteps of former Fox News host Tucker Carlson, who launched a new platform after his firing and who now continues to have “a big voice.”

Bee agreed, saying she was sure Colbert would have multiple doors open to him.