Stephen Colbert‘s Late Show will air its final episode this Thursday, May 21, ending the popular talk show after over 30 years on air. Unsurprisingly, Colbert hasn’t been going gentle into that good night, releasing his inhibitions and growing delightfully unhinged as the Late Show‘s finale draws closer.
To that end, the late night host dedicated Monday’s episode to showing Late Show sketches which were filmed throughout the years but never made it to air. Entitled “The Worst Of The Late Show,” the entire episode has also been uploaded to YouTube so fans everywhere can enjoy an hour of the “best worst stuff” the Late Show team had produced.
“We thought we might just take it a little easy tonight,” said Colbert, sitting at his desk for a very laid-back opening monologue. “We definitely have enough material for a ‘Best Of’ clip show. But y’all got YouTube. You do it.”
Casually eating steamed chicken with his hands because nothing matters anymore, Colbert also offered enlightening explanations as to why some of these featured bits were rejected. For example, the 2016 U.S. presidential election’s unexpected results forced the Late Show to axe a joke involving nude male models’ painted butts. A 2023 Thanksgiving sketch advertising “erotic body gravy” was also cut for being too weirdly sexy.
“When I watched it, I said, ‘Those actors are way too attractive for comedy,'” Colbert explained. ‘You guys ended up just making softcore gravy porn.'”
