Stephen Colbert had big shoes to fill in late night. He blazed his own trail

The end of “The Late Show” will mark the end of an era.

When it was announced in 2014 that Stephen Colbert would succeed David Letterman as host of the CBS “Late Show,” reaction was mixed. Letterman, who retired after helming the talk show for 22 years, had a loyal audience. At that point, Colbert was best known for playing a satirical version of himself on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” Some wondered whether Colbert’s mix of topical news and political humor would be embraced by Letterman’s audience and how he might fare competing against the established late night hosts at the time, Conan O’Brien, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel. “I don’t know what anybody else is going to do. Conan, Jimmy and Jimmy — sincerely, we’re friends. So it’s better for me not to think about that,” Colbert told the New York Times in 2015. “I can only do what I do.” What Colbert did - after a bumpy start - was take “The Late Show” to the top spot in broadcast TV late-night ratings by 2017, where it’s remained for eight years. On Thursday, it was announced “The Late Show” will cease production next May. CBS cited financial pressures as the reason for the cancelation, though some have speculated about the timing amid a pending sale of Paramount and two weeks after a legal settlement between President Donald Trump and CBS News.