We've reached the end of the road, heroes. Or, as Stephen Colbert said on the series finale of The Colbert Report, "If this is your first time tuning into The Colbert Report, I have some terrible news." He ended his amazing nine-year run last night. The episode was pitch-perfect, quite literally.
After cheating death and his old frenemy Grimmy, Colbert delivered the last-ever segment of "The Word" ("Same to you, pal"). The real magic started when Colbert was joined by Jon Stewart, James Franco, Cookie Monster, Cyndi Lauper, Bill Clinton, Bryan Cranston, Neil deGrasse Tyson, Gloria Steinem, Vince Gilligan (still locked in a basement as part of a long-running bit), and more of his pals for a rendition of "We'll Meet Again."
Then, just as the prophets foretold, Stephen Colbert (the character — we'll be seeing the real Stephen Colbert when he takes over for David Letterman) climbed into a sleigh with Santa and Alex Trebek and rode off into the night. In the end, could it all have been a nine-year-long segment for The Daily Show? It just might have been, nation.