Fans of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will have to make due with reruns this week, November 27-December 1, as the late night talk show is not going to be airing new episodes at all this week as host Stephen Colbert recovers from a recent surgery.
On Monday, November 27, Colbert shared a message on Threads that he underwent surgery for a ruptured appendix, which must have occurred sometime after his last show on Wednesday, November 22, wrapped up for the Thanksgiving holiday. Colbert showed he still has his funny bone in the message:
"Sorry to say that I have to cancel our shows this week. I'm sure you're thinking, 'Turkey overdose, Steve? Gravy boat capsize?' Actually, I'm recovering from surgery for a ruptured appendix. I'm grateful to my doctors for their care and to Evie and the kids for putting up with me. Going forward, all emails to my appendix will be handled by my pancreas."
It was already planned that Monday, November 27, was going to be a rerun during The Late Show's usual 11:35 pm ET/PT time slot on CBS, but Tuesday through Thursday was expected to be new episodes (The Late Show typically does not have new episodes on Fridays). Colbert was set to welcome guests that included Jennifer Garner, Patrick Stewart, Jon Batiste, Frasier's Kelsey Grammer and Barbara Streisand. It is unclear if these guests will be rescheduled at any point in the near future.
Another thing that wasn't clear as of publication is what episodes of The Late Show would air in place of the planned new episodes for this week. The November 27 episode had already been planned as a rerun, showing the November 14 episode with Rachel Maddow and Gracie Abrams.
This is the second time that Colbert has had a medical incident forcing him to cancel multiple shows in a week. Back in October, just shortly after returning from the end of the writers strike, he was diagnosed with COVID and had to cancel shows as a result.
No official timetable was given for Colbert's return to hosting The Late Show, but considering he only acknowledged this week's shows in his message, we can guess that the intention is to have new episodes airing again as of Monday, December 4.
In the meantime, you can watch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert reruns nightly at 11:35 pm ET/PT on CBS or stream episodes on-demand on Paramount Plus.
