Colbert's Hissy Fit Farewell Tour, Xi's Ominous Comment, and Murdaugh's New Trial, with Glenn Greenwald | Ep. 1318

May 15, 2026

AI Summary

5 min read

Colbert's Bitter Farewell, Xi's Ominous Warning, and Murdaugh's Second Chance

Stephen Colbert's final weeks on CBS have turned into an extended grievance tour, and Megyn Kelly and Glenn Greenwald are not impressed. The late-night host, whose show was losing $40 million a year before CBS finally pulled the plug, has spent his farewell season acting less like a comedian and more like a political martyr. Meanwhile, President Trump returned from his China summit with Xi Jinping, who opened their bilateral meeting by invoking the "Thucydides trap"—the theory that when a rising power threatens an established one, war often follows. And in South Carolina, Alec Murdaugh was granted a new trial after the state Supreme Court found that the court clerk had improperly influenced the jury.

The Colbert Farewell: Comedy as Political Theater

Colbert's extended goodbye has become a spectacle of self-pity that Kelly finds genuinely embarrassing. "When I got canned from NBC, I think everybody was calling me a racist," she said. "I got a little teary the day after because it was overwhelming. And that was it." Colbert, by contrast, has spent months treating his cancellation as a重大 injustice, culminating in a segment where he and David Letterman smashed a piñata labeled "CBS" while Letterman thanked him for "what you've done for our country."

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What you'll learn

1 (01:06) **Megyn Kelly Opens & Colbert's Farewell Meltdown** - Kelly introduces the show and immediately leads with Stephen Colbert's prolonged, self-pitying goodbye tour, mocking his histrionics alongside David Letterman.
2 (04:27) **Greenwald on Colbert's Martyr Complex** - Greenwald argues Colbert and Letterman have corrupted late-night by turning it into a self-important political war against Trump, abandoning genuine humor.
3 (08:47) **The Financial Ruin of Colbert's Show** - Kelly and Greenwald detail how Colbert's show was a massive financial loser, losing $40 million a year, and how he inherited a dying format from Letterman.
4 (13:18) **Colbert's Farewell vs. Johnny Carson's Grace** - Kelly and Greenwald contrast Colbert's self-aggrandizing year-long goodbye with Johnny Carson's graceful, voluntary retirement, highlighting a loss of dignity.
5 (21:00) **Colbert's Cringe-Worthy Farewell Stunts** - Kelly plays clips of Colbert kissing guests on the mouth, including Julia Louis-Dreyfus and Pedro Pascal, which she and Greenwald find desperate and gross.
6 (27:30) **The Economics of Late-Night vs. New Media** - Kelly and Greenwald analyze the unsustainable economics of Colbert's show, with 200 staffers and a $100 million budget, compared to leaner, more profitable independent shows.
7 (33:01) **Gutfeld Beats Them All & The Death of Star Power** - Kelly notes that Greg Gutfeld is the #1 rated late-night host but is excluded from the "club" because he's not a left-wing partisan, and the conversation shifts to the loss of unifying celebrity.

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Guests on this episode

Megyn Kelly Glenn Greenwald

Show Notes

Megyn Kelly is joined by Glenn Greenwald, host of "System Update" on Substack, to discuss Stephen Colbert’s embarrassing hissy fit farewell tour destroying CBS furniture with David Letterman, how late night ratings over the past 20 years show the format completely collapsed, why he should just go out like a man, the tens of millions Stephen Colbert is losing for CBS, his bizarre tactics of kissing male and female guests in his final week, how celebrities in 2026 like Charlize Theron have an addiction to attention, how Michael Jackson was for everyone and achieved fame no one anymore can, the chilling comment China President Xi said to President Trump about the Thucydides Trap, how Trump says he's fine with 500,000 Chinese students coming and staying in America and China buying up farmland, Trump saying we’re at war with Iran to help Israel and the Gulf states, what happens if America tries to get out of the war now, whether criminals Alex Murdaugh and Harvey Weinstein deserve new trials, why it's important for everyone in America to get fair trials, and more.

More from Greenwald: https://greenwald.substack.com/

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