Kimmel, Fallon, Oliver and Meyers reunite for Colbert's final Late Show

Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, John Oliver and Seth Meyers returned to Stephen Colbert’s side on The Late Show for a reunion that felt less like a variety segment than a closing chapter for an entire TV era. Their appearance on Monday, May 11, 2026, came as Colbert moved through the final days of a program CBS said will end for good on May 21.

The gathering carried the afterglow of Strike Force Five, the limited-series podcast the five hosts launched on August 30, 2023, during the Hollywood writers’ strike. Built as a way for the men behind five major late-night shows to talk through the labor stoppage and help out-of-work staffers, the podcast became a rare cross-network alliance in a business built on rivalry. That spirit was back on the stage Monday, with Colbert hosting the same late-night peers who once turned strike solidarity into a shared project.

The reunion also underscored how much late-night has changed since Strike Force Five first appeared. What began as a strike-era lifeline for workers has become a marker of a format under pressure from streaming, clips, and shrinking live audiences. The May 11 episode leaned into that reality, with the guests discussing Donald Trump’s long-running fixation on late-night television and the broader strain facing the genre itself, where the cultural center of gravity has shifted away from traditional network broadcasts.

CBS announced last year that it was canceling The Late Show, setting up the end of Colbert’s run after years as one of the most visible figures in late-night comedy. The send-off had already begun in earlier tributes and cameo appearances from some of the same hosts after the cancellation was announced, but Monday’s reunion brought the group back together in the same frame one more time. For Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Oliver and Meyers, the moment was both nostalgic and practical: a reminder that even late-night competitors have been forced to adapt, collaborate and find new audiences in a television landscape that no longer guarantees the old rules will hold.