Colbert Bounces Back With New YouTube Channel

TV & Film

May 30

Stephen Colbert in the Sanjay Gupta episode of The Late Show in 2020. Colbert has his head resting on his hand looking past the camera with a smile on his face. — Image Source: *IMDb*

Television host, comedian, and political commentator Stephen Colbert is not going quietly following the cancellation of his late-night show. The comedian has reportedly started a new YouTube channel, created on April 21, 2026, which has amassed over one million views and 328,000 subscribers as of May 29, 2026. Its description reads, “The official YouTube channel of Stephen Colbert,” and the only video on it at this time is titled, Only in Monroe---May 22, 2026. The final episode of The Late Show aired on May 21, 2026, making the timing of this YouTube video more notable.

The announcement of the cancellation of Colbert's The Late Show came during Paramount’s attempted merger with Skydance Media. This merger required federal review for approval. US President Donald Trump and his Administration sued Paramount’s CBS News over what they claimed was a misleadingly edited interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris. The company settled with a donation of $16 million to Trump’s presidential library fund; note that Trump's presidential library is digital, while a physical Presidential Center is currently in development, but they are both under the library umbrella. Paramount denies that this settlement was made to influence the government to approve the Skydance merger.

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Stephen Colbert on the show Only in Monroe in May 2026, watering a plant and looking to the camera with a smile. — Image Source: *YouTube*

In 2025, Colbert joined the list of people Trump has publicly demanded censorship of when the comedian commented (via The Guardian), “As someone who has always been a proud employee of this network, I am offended … I don’t know if anything – anything – will repair my trust in this company. But, just taking a stab at it, I’d say $16m would help.” Critics have viewed the cancellation of his show as an appeasement to grease the wheels of the merger on top of the settlement. The direction of Colbert’s YouTube channel remains to be seen; you can find it in the source links below.

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