Seth Meyers Calls Final Stephen Colbert ‘Late Show’ A “Sad Week For TV”

EXCLUSIVE: On the eve of Stephen Colbert’s final Late Show broadcast, his late-night comedy compatriot Seth Meyers is weighing in on the historic moment.

“I’m heartbroken,” the host of Late Night with Seth Meyers tells Deadline in an exclusive interview. “It’s very sad to lose a colleague and even sadder to lose a time slot. It would be one thing if Stephen was leaving and a younger person was getting a chance to have one of these jobs that are — as someone who’s experienced it — so exciting to have. So just in general, I think it’s a very sad week for television in America.”

In the absence of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, CBS is essentially renting out the 11:35 p.m. time slot. As Deadline’s Peter White reported last month, Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take that window in a time buy model.

Colbert doesn’t plan to be idle for long. As Deadline reported in March, he has signed on to co-write the screenplay for the next Lord of the Rings movie, tentatively titled The Lord of the Rings: Shadow of the Past.

“I’m also very optimistic that Stephen’s next chapter is going to be exciting for him and for the rest of us,” Meyers told us. “I think he’s been slow-playing this as what his next step was going to be for years and I’m very excited it’s going to happen.”

We spoke with Meyers in Madrid at the world premiere of Rafa, the four-part Netflix documentary on 22-time Grand Slam tennis champion Rafael Nadal. The series is directed by Zach Heinzerling, who just happens to be Meyers’ brother-in-law.

“For the last two years, I’ve watched Zach sort of fall in love with Rafa, the man. He obviously started the way I started, a huge fan of the way [Rafa] plays on the court,” Meyers said. “It’s a great documentary about who Rafa is as a person and it’s also a great sports documentary. So excited to be here for the premiere.”

Rafa premieres May 29 on Netflix. It will be submitted for Emmys consideration this year, as it debuts just before the close of the eligibility window. Late Night with Seth Meyers, of course, is also in contention for Emmys.

“I’m just so happy they’re not in the same category because I would turn my back on Zach,” Meyers joked. “I love him very much. I would turn my back on him immediately if we were competing for the same Emmy.”