For months people have been wondering what Stephen Colbert would do when his time as host of CBS’ Late Show came to an end.
Apparently his immediate plans were to dance the night away with his staff, loved ones and stars like Bette Midler at the Late Show wrap party Thursday night.
In videos shared by Gayle King and her CBS Mornings producer Gisela Margarita Pérez, Colbert could be seen enthusiastically cutting a rug to House of Pain’s “Jump Around,” taking the lyrics to heart and singing along as he was surrounded by a group of people doing the same.
He also could be seen dancing to Outkast’s “Hey Ya” with Bette Midler and his wife, Evie Colbert. There again Colbert was singing along and shaking his body “like a Polaroid picture” as commanded by the lyrics.
Along with a carousel of photos of King with Jon Batiste, Evie Colbert and Lin-Manuel Miranda at the celebration, the CBS Mornings host wrote on Instagram, “I can’t imagine late night without Stephen @colbert and yet here we are. I’m not the only one that feels that way and the people turned out for his wrap party in NYC. They hit the dance floor with Stephen who is clearly ready for things to come—and I can’t wait!”
Earlier this month, King sung Colbert’s praises to The Hollywood Reporter on the red carpet at THR‘s Most Powerful People in New York Media party, saying: “I love everything about him. I’ve been on his show a couple of times. The wit that he has, the intelligence that he has, there’s nobody like him. And I can’t wait to see what he does in his next chapter because we all know Stephen ain’t done.”
Other stars spotted by photographers at the afterparty included Anderson Cooper, Dick Cavett, Katie Couric, Mark Hamill, Tiffany Haddish, Drew Barrymore, Ewan McGregor, Padma Lakshmi, Bernadette Peters, Keegan-Michael Key, Patton Oswalt, Steve Buscemi and “Weird Al” Yankovic, who memorably appeared on the first Late Show after Colbert announced his show had been canceled and Thursday night was the guest on The Daily Show, where Colbert obviously got his start in late night.
He was also joined by a number of the stars who made appearances on the final Late Show including Paul McCartney, as well as John Oliver and Paul Rudd.
The afterparty kicked off at 8 p.m. on Thursday at the New York events space, Second, according to an invitation reviewed by Page Six. The invite, according to Page Six and other outlets, said, “That’s a Wrap! (Party)” and asked people to wear “Fired & Festive!” attire.
Colbert wrapped up his 11-year run on The Late Show Thursday night with what the host called a “normal,” final episode that featured a slew of celebrity cameos and an interdimensional wormhole that swallowed the Ed Sullivan Theater. The largely politics-free finale didn’t include a single reference to President Donald Trump and there was another star who didn’t make the show: Colbert’s “white whale” guest, the pope, who, the show joked, canceled at the last minute.
Colbert’s next endeavor is taking the avid J.R.R. Tolkien fan to Middle-earth as he co-writes an upcoming installment of the Lord of the Rings franchise. Beyond that, the host has insisted he wanted to remain focused on finishing out The Late Show to the best of his ability before he considered other future moves. Still, he told Meyers in January that he and his longtime collaborators, many of whom work with him at The Late Show, will “do something else together.”
And Colbert recently told THR he began fielding scripts immediately after he announced the end of The Late Show and that he could see “creating another show” and still has the desire to perform.
“Got to stay in front of the lens, baby,” he joked.
This weekend, though, Colbert and his family, all of whom were at the Ed Sullivan Theater for his final episode, will head down to D.C. for his brother’s wedding. He celebrated his son’s college graduation this past Monday as well.
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