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The beloved late-night host signed off Thursday night after 11 years at the helm of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, closing out his final episode at the Ed Sullivan Theater with a star-studded sendoff that kept the audience guessing until the very last moment.
The laughs started early. Bryan Cranston crashed the opening monologue, only to be told the guest list was too full for him to take the stage. He responded by hurling his Late Show hat into the crowd and storming out. Paul Rudd followed, chiming in from the audience to ask when his interview would begin, having apparently arrived with a lengthy poem ready to recite and a bag of bananas as a retirement gift. Tim Meadows was sitting nearby and had also shown up hoping to appear, telling Colbert simply: "Screw you, Colbert!"
The running gag continued when Ryan Reynolds surfaced in the crowd, visibly stung to learn he was not the final guest. "Ouchie," he said. When Colbert thanked him for his kind words about the show, Reynolds clarified he had actually been praising the keyboardist.
Comedian Tig Notaro also turned up, insisting she had no desire to be on the show. She simply enjoys attending historic events.
The real final guest turned out to be Paul McCartney, who strolled in casually, telling Colbert he had just been in the area running errands. He presented the host with a framed photograph of The Beatles performing at the very same Ed Sullivan Theater in 1964, before sitting down for a long and warm conversation.
A comedy bit involving a backstage wormhole brought in Neil deGrasse Tyson, Jon Stewart, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, John Oliver, Andy Cohen and a briefly offended Elijah Wood.
The finale closed with McCartney joining Colbert, Jon Batiste, Elvis Costello and bandleader Louis Cato for a performance of The Beatles' Hello, Goodbye.
