Stephen Colbert is taking more time off to recover from appendix surgery, resulting in another week of cancellations for CBS’ “The Late Show.”
“I’m listening to my doctors and continuing to rest and heal. Thank you for all your well wishes and I’ll see you soon,” the Emmy Award winner wrote Monday on Threads, confirming that he would not be returning to work this week.
The news comes after “The Daily Show” veteran revealed on Nov. 27 that his appendix had ruptured, requiring surgery around Thanksgiving weekend.
“I’m sure you’re thinking, ‘Turkey overdose, Steve? Gravy boat capsize?’ Actually, I’m recovering from surgery for a ruptured appendix,” he wrote at the time, adding that he was grateful to his doctors for their care and to his wife, Evie, and their kids “for putting up with me.”
“Going forward, all emails to my appendix will be handled by my pancreas,” the 59-year-old quipped.
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“The Late Show,” which had only returned in October after a five-month blackout due to the Hollywood writers’ strike, will air repeat episodes for the remainder of the week, CBS said in a Monday statement. Those repeats include episodes filmed in October and November.
Actors Maria Bamford, Sarah Paulson, Mark Ruffalo, journalist Jonathan Karl, Rep. Liz Cheney and musicians Jason Isbell, Daniel Caesar, Sara Bareilles and Nicki Minaj were slated to appear on the show this week.
The “Strike Force Five” podcast host has previously canceled the show due to health complications. In May 2022, the former Comedy Central fixture took several days off to treat a bout of COVID-19, as well as a COVID recurrence. It is unclear when Colbert will return to his famous TV desk; representatives for “The Late Show” did not immediately respond Tuesday to The Times’ requests for comment.
Last week, “The Late Show” had to do without scheduled guest spots with Barbra Streisand, Jennifer Garner, Patrick Stewart and Baz Luhrmann. Clips from Colbert’s prerecorded interview with Streisand have since been posted online.
Musician Jon Batiste, who is up for the Grammys’ album of the year trophy, also was scheduled to return to the show last week — marking his first time back since he left the CBS show in 2022 after seven seasons as its bandleader.
Before the holiday break, longtime “Late Show” host David Letterman returned to the show as a guest for the first time since he left in May 2015. When remarking on the many upgrades to the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York — including the dressing room, which Letterman said was “nicer than the nicest hotel I’ve ever stayed in” — the former host joked, “I’ll be here through Christmas.”
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