Stephen Colbert’s ‘The Late Show’ ends after 11 seasons with surprises from Paul McCartney and others

Stephen Colbert chatted with Paul Mc Cartney and joined him on stage for a raucous performance of “Hello, Goodbye” on the final broadcast of CBS’ “The Late Show” on Thursday night, a bittersweet farewell for a canceled show that still had a few barbs left for the network that ended its 33-year run.At the top of his last show, which grew more surreal and absurd as it went on, Colbert highlighted the “joy” that he and his team felt creating more than 1,800 episodes of “The Late Show.”“The energy that you’ve given us, we sincerely need that to have done the best possible show we could have for you for the last 11 years,” Colbert said. “You’ve given it to us. We’ve given it all right back to you.”Colbert pretended that Pope Leo XIV, the first U.S.-born pope, was his final guest, but the pontiff refused to come out of his dressing room because he hadn’t been supplied the correct kind of snacks, especially hot dogs.McCartney then offered himself as a replacement, striding across the stage as the audience screamed. “I think you’d be a perfect last guest,” Colbert said.McCartney said he happened to be in the area, doing errands. He offered a framed photo of the Beatles at the Ed Sullivan Theater, the final home for “The Late Show.” The two chatted about when the Beatles first came to America in 1964, creativity, his new album and McCartney’s childhood. Final broadcast is filled with surprises Colbert’s monologue was interrupted by Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd and Tim Meadows, who all pretended to be irked that they weren’t the host’s final guest. “You know what? You got what you deserved,” Meadows fumed. Other celebrities in the audience who had funny turns during Colbert’s last “Meanwhile” segment were Tig Notaro and Ryan Reynolds.Later, Colbert joined Elvis Costello, former bandleader Jon Bati