Fallon joins fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in clearing the way for Colbert to make his farewell.

Jimmy Fallon’s* Tonight Show *to air rerun during Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show episode

Fallon joins fellow late-night host Jimmy Kimmel in clearing the way for Colbert to make his farewell.

By Shania Russell

Shania Russell

Shania Russell is a news writer at *, *with five years of experience. Her work has previously appeared in SlashFilm and Paste Magazine.

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May 12, 2026 2:00 p.m. ET

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Jimmy Fallon; Stephen Colbert. Credit:

Todd Owyoung/NBC via Getty; Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty

- Jimmy Fallon is following suit with Jimmy Kimmel, clearing the way for Stephen Colbert's final late-night broadcast.

- *The Tonight Show* will defer to Colbert by airing a rerun against his final episode of *The Late Show*.

- Kimmel previously announced that he would air a rerun on May 21, the night of Colbert's last episode.

Jimmy Fallon is standing by his longtime late-night pal Stephen Colbert.

** can confirm that *The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon* will go dark on Thursday, May 21 by airing a rerun against Colbert's final episode of *The Late Show**.* The move is an act of "late-night solidarity," per an NBC rep.

The news comes on the heels of *Jimmy Kimmel Live* announcing on Monday that a repeat episode of the late-night show will air that same night. This means that Colbert will say goodbye during his May 21 episode on CBS with no late-night competitors.

Kimmel previously made the same call when David Letterman signed off from *Late Show *in 2015, while Fallon opted to dedicate an emotional segment to the TV veteran.

Fittingly, Letterman will be one of Colbert's final guests, returning to the show on Thursday, May 14. Other guests stopping by *The Late Show* in its final days include Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Pedro Pascal, and Tom Hanks.

Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Fallon.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

CBS announced in July 2025 that *The Late Show *would be ending the following May. "We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire* The Late Show* franchise at that time," CBS said in a statement. "We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television."

In announcing the end of the historic late-night show, CBS said its decision to pull the plug on the franchise was "purely a financial one" and that it wasn't "related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

But many critics questioned the timing of the announcement, pointing out that Colbert had recently criticized CBS' corporate parent, Paramount Global, for agreeing to pay $16 million to President Donald Trump over an interview with former Vice President Kamala Harris that aired on *60 Minutes* in November. Trump has long disliked late-night hosts' jokes about his administration and celebrated news of *The Late Show*'s cancellation on social media, writing that Colbert's "talent was even less than his ratings.

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When Colbert addressed the cancellation on his show, he emphasized that the move marked "not just the end of our show, but it's the end of *The Late Show *on CBS."

"I'm not being replaced. This is all just going away," he said at the time. "Let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it. And it's a job that I'm looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months. It's going to be fun."

Colbert kicked off his second-to-last week by welcoming fellow late-night hosts Fallon, Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, a.k.a. the hosts of *Strike Force Five* to the show. The group of hosts previously teamed up during the 2023 WGA strike, coming together for a 12-episode podcast series, with the proceeds going to their employees, who were out of work as their shows went dark.

Stephen Colbert.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS via Getty

The gang got back together on Monday to give Colbert a proper send-off — and air out some grievances.

At one point, Kimmel wondered aloud why the studio audience doesn't boycott Paramount+ in response to Colbert's cancellation. "When I got knocked off the air for a few days, people canceled Disney+. Why aren't you people canceling Paramount+?," he asked the studio audience before quipping, "Cause you didn't have it in the first place?"

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Later, Colbert posed a question to the group that he has been inundated with in recent months: Can they make a case for late-night TV to continue to exist?

Kimmel replied, "Why should you have to defend late night? And why is that question even asked? Ryan Seacrest doesn't get asked that question about *Wheel of Fortune* or whatever the hell he's hosting."

*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert* airs at 11:35 p.m. ET/PT Monday through Thursday until May 21 on CBS.

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