Later tonight, the late show with Stephen Colbert comes to an end amid a lot of changes in the business and in the country.

Among the sources of tension, the economics of late night in an age of clips and streaming, the approaching merger of Paramount and Warner Brothers,

and President Donald Trump's constant criticism of late-night hosts,

which has sometimes been backed by pronouncements from the FCC. But for Colbert's fans,

the end of a friendly, funny, candid show. I'm Linda Holmes, and today we're talking about

Stephen Colbert on Pop Culture Happy Hour from NPR.

Joining me today, of course, is Eric Deggans.

He's a critic at large at NPR and also the night chair of journalism and media ethics at Washington and Lee University.

Hello, Eric.

I believe this is the first time I've been on the show since I have become a full professor. So I am now

officially an absent-minded professor. I just want to note that here starting out. That is awesome.

I am excited to hear it. I am always proud to know you, but even more, now that you are fully

an absent-minded professor. And I will also say, you know, you and I have spoken about late night

quite a number of times, I would say. And this is another one of those occasions where

it feels like an important moment. The late show is not just ending for Stephen Colbert. It is

ending entirely. He took over when David Letterman left in 2015. Colbert had recently made the Comedy Central satire

The Colbert rapport, a spinoff of the Daily Show. He played a fictional version of himself, a conservative

firebrand talk show host. On the late show, Colbert was just himself, a warm and affable presence

in interviews, and more and more as time went on, a critic of Donald Trump.

In July, CBS announced that the current season would be the last, citing the difficult economics of late-night shows.

But this also happened while CBS was seeking approval from the Federal Communications Commission for a multi-billion dollar merger with Skydance media.

It also closely followed Colbert's criticism of CBS's decision to pay $16 million to settle a lawsuit

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