Stephen Colbert’s late-night home base is getting a second life in his real hometown. As The Late Show with Stephen Colbert signs off this week, CBS is donating the show’s complete set to Chicago’s Museum of Broadcast Communications, sending the Ed Sullivan Theater desk and stage pieces back to where Colbert’s career first took root. For the museum, it is a rare chance to showcase a full-scale, modern late-night production.
What the museum will get
The Museum of Broadcast Communications already had one of Colbert’s desks in its collection and will now fold the full Late Show set into its late-night exhibits. In its newsroom, the museum describes these displays as part of its ongoing “Evolution of Late‑Night Television” series and other special programming, which lets visitors test‑drive famous talk‑show furniture, according to the Museum of Broadcast Communications.
The set’s Chicago ties
The Colbert desk, already under the museum’s care, has logged some local miles. It was used when Colbert temporarily moved his show to Chicago for the 2024 Democratic National Convention, then later sat on display in the lobby of CBS Chicago’s broadcast center at Block 37. The show has said the full set was always promised to Chicago, although the Smithsonian also asked for it, as reported by CBS Chicago.
Colbert’s local roots
For Colbert, this is more than a sentimental furniture drop-off. He studied theater at Northwestern University and sharpened his improv chops with Chicago troupes before heading into national television, according to Northwestern Magazine. That hometown trajectory makes the Museum of Broadcast Communications a natural landing spot for the set and turns the exhibit into a local story that Chicago visitors can see reflected in real time.
Where to see it
The incoming Late Show pieces will be woven into existing attractions, including “The Johnny Carson Centennial” exhibit and the museum’s late‑night timeline at the Museum of Broadcast Communications pop‑up location at 440 W. Randolph St. in the West Loop, according to the museum’s newsroom. There, the Colbert set will sit alongside other talk‑show desks already on display. The Museum of Broadcast Communications says the exhibits are designed to be interactive and to trace the evolution of late‑night television.
Final act
Colbert will take his final bow as host on May 21 with one last broadcast from the Ed Sullivan Theater, wrapping up more than three decades of the Late Show franchise, according to the AP. After that finale, CBS plans to ship pieces of the set to Chicago, and the museum and station say they will share details on when the full stage will be ready for its next starring role in front of museum crowds.
