As David Letterman noted, Stephen Colbert will still have a voice

“As we all understand, you can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice.”
— David Letterman

I expect to see a lot of Stephen Colbert in the headlines this week, as the clock ticks toward the final episode of The Late Show on Thursday night. This is of course not a voluntary departure; CBS shocked the broadcast industry last summer by telling Colbert the upcoming season would be his last.

On top of that, it’ll be the final episode of The Late Show, which Colbert inherited in 2015 from David Letterman, who launched it 22 years earlier.

Letterman appeared on the show on Thursday night, a week ahead of the finale, and called out CBS for calling down the show. The network’s desire to please and appease the Trump administration has been much reported, and even though Colbert’s show has reportedly been losing money, it’s far from the only part of network television in trouble.

Colbert, an improv legend whose Colbert Report was must-see satire in the George W. Bush era, reinvented himself again with The Late Show, taking excruciatingly funny and sharp aim at Donald Trump, MAGA, the lot of it.

Letterman’s appearance made no mistake of his feelings for the folks running CBS. Before wrapping up his interview, Letterman, now 79 and still rocking his post-retirement, Walt Whitman-themed beard, had some parting words: “To the folks at CBS — in the words of the great Ed Murrow, good night and good luck, motherf–kers.”

I think the words at the top, about Colbert’s voice, will resonate for a while. Here’s the interview.