Bob Odenkirk doesn’t think Stephen Colbert is going anywhere.
The Better Call Saul star, who guested on The Late Show numerous times since the Colbert Report host took over the show in 2015, shares his response to the news of the talk show’s cancellation while promoting Nobody 2 at Entertainment Weekly‘s San Diego Comic-Con video studio.
“I can’t make out the political side of this versus the economic side of it,” Odenkirk says of the Late Show‘s cancellation, which CBS explained as “purely a financial decision,” but has since raised questions given its potential connection to Colbert’s criticism of President Trump and the merger of Paramount and Skydance. “I do know that viewing patterns have shifted.”
Odenkirk believes that Colbert will persist after the show concludes in 2026. “Here’s the one thing I’m not remotely concerned about: not having Stephen Colbert do excellent work for the rest of his life as long as he wants to,” he says. “Whether it’s on a different platform, or for CBS under a different banner, or his own company.”
Odenkirk believes that Colbert’s post-Late Show trajectory will mirror that of Conan O’Brien, whom the Better Call Saul star worked with in the Saturday Night Live writers’ room before writing for his own show, Late Night With Conan O’Brien.
“It’s not gonna be unlike Conan O’Brien, who you can see every day, all you want,” Odenkirk says. “He’s gonna make stuff, ’cause Stephen is a creator, and a genius, and his voice is pure and wonderful.”
O’Brien, of course, launched his own TBS talk show after leaving The Tonight Show, and began a successful podcast after departing late-night altogether. He also stars in his Emmy-winning travel show, Conan O’Brien Must Go, for HBO Max.
Casting doubt on the viability of the late-night genre in general, Odenkirk continues, “Maybe that format has kind of run its time? And also, by the way, one less person doing that will maybe help some of the other shows be stronger. But I know Stephen — we’re gonna see lots more of Stephen.”
The Late Show‘s cancellation drew significant criticism from the late-night community. Jon Stewart, whose tenure at The Daily Show saw Colbert rise to prominence as a correspondent, slammed CBS’ decision and suggested that the show’s cancellation was an attempt to appease President Trump.
Scott Kowalchyk/CBS/Getty
Stephen Colbert on ‘The Late Show’ on July 21, 2025
“If you believe as corporations or as networks, you can make yourselves so innocuous, that you can serve a gruel so flavorless, that you will never again be on the boy king’s radar: (a) why will anyone watch you?” he said on The Daily Show. “And — you are f—ing wrong.”
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David Letterman, who served as The Late Show‘s original host from 1993 to 2015, shared similar sentiments. “There’s no fairness to these goons,” he said of Skydance’s leaders on The Barbara Gaines Show. “These guys are bottom feeders. That’s exactly what this is. Of course, they know that broadcast television is withering. They just want to make sure that, on top of buying something that doesn’t have the same value as it had 30 years ago, they don’t want to be hassled by the United States government. So they want CBS to take care of all of that mess.”
Jimmy Kimmel also criticized the network in an Instagram post. “Love you Stephen,” he wrote. “F— you and all your Sheldons CBS.”
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