Thank You and Good Night: Revisiting the Greatest Late Night Talk Show Finales

Wednesday, May 20, 2026
4:00 pm
The Paley Museum, 25 West 52 Street, NYC
Curator: Jason Lynch

For late night talk shows, the only episode that draws more attention than its premiere is its finale, especially when that program and host is capping a lengthy run. Mixing laughter and tears, these poignant goodbyes help cement that host’s legacy as they signal an end of an era in late night. Just before Stephen Colbert wraps up his time on The Late Show after nearly three decades in late night, join curator Jason Lynch and renowned late night TV journalist and historian Bill Carter as they revisit the most memorable late-night talk show farewells of all time, from Johnny Carson to David Letterman to Conan O’Brien to Garry Shandling’s fictional TV alter ego, Larry Sanders.

Bill Carter has written about the television industry for over forty years, mostly at The New York Times, where he was the chief television correspondent for twenty-six years. He’s the author of four books about television—including 1994’s best-selling The Late Shift, which spawned an HBO original movie of the same name, and a 2010 follow-up, The War for Late Night—and is now editor at large for LateNighter.com.

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