Tonight, the curtain closes on the late show with Stephen Colbert and on more than 30 years of late night TV history.

Colbert has entertained and provoked from the historic Ed Sullivan stage for the last decade in ways that transformed the comedic landscape.

We take a look now at what led up to this inflection point and what it might mean for the future of late

night, part of our arts and culture series, Canvas.

Welcome to the late show, everybody. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert. After 11 seasons,

the late show with Stephen Colbert will go dark tonight. Along the top-rated late-night talk

show, Colbert interviewed politicians. Hello, Mr. Obama. Am I pronouncing that correctly?

Close enough.

Comedians.

I didn't know there were any mongoose in Peru.

No, there's just one. This one.

And musicians.

What?

Are you married?

Why? Why? Why? Yes, yes, I am. His wife, Evie McGee Colbert, was a regular.

On our first date, I said, do you play any sports? And he said, I play Hackey Sat.

Colbert took over the show from David Letterman in 2015, after a decade hosting the Comedy

Central news satire, the Colbert Rappore, which was a spinoff of The Daily Show.

His old friend John Stewart was among his final guests.

Oh, are you going to enjoy watching Matlocking this motherfucker?

CBS announced the late show's cancellation last July, insisting it was a purely financial decision.

The program was reportedly losing millions of dollars each year, but many believed politics was at play.

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