The only announced guest for the final episode of “The Colbert Report” was Stephen Colbert’s friend Grimmy, prompting speculation that the host would kill off his blowhard right-wing character for good.
Instead, Colbert accidentally shot the Grim Reaper seconds into his recurring “Cheating Death” segment on Thursday and declared himself immortal.
But before leaving “The Colbert Report” set for eternity, Colbert launched into a rousing rendition of “We’ll Meet Again” that swelled to include so many prominent figures in politics and media that it was nearly impossible to count them all (though Forbes has a running list). Jon Stewart, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gloria Steinem, Bryan Cranston, Jeff Daniels, Katie Couric, Samantha Power and former President Bill Clinton all made appearances.
Colbert then rode off into the night with Santa Claus, Abraham Lincoln and “Jeopardy” host Alex Trebek, presumably en route to the set of “The Late Show,” which he’ll take over from David Letterman next year.
Watch below via Comedy Central in two clips:
Meh.
I thought it was a good ending.
The shooting itself was a bit forced but the sing-a-long was great & a good mixture of indulgence and sentiment, which is quite Colbert-like. And, not killing him off works. But, didn’t think the whole Santa Claus/Trebek thing worked. It was like the cab ride after his famous truthiness speech == it went too long & didn’t really work much. The dig at Canada was good.
I choose to remember just the sing-along; it was sublime.
I loved the Report, thought it was the best political satire show of my lifetime. But pardon me if I gag at seeing that war criminal Henry Kissinger in the crowd.