The cancellation next year of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, announced by the host on Thursday night's broadcast, is resonating as the most significant news in the television landscape in some time. 

The reactions on social media range from surprise to dismay: Colbert has been in that seat for a decade and is the ratings leader among late night shows on the original three American broadcast networks, but the announcement comes three days after he called a controversial settlement between Paramount, CBS's parent company, and U.S. President Donald Trump, a "big fat bribe."

CBS executives characterized the decision as "purely a financial statement against a challenging backdrop in late night," and Colbert said he was told he wasn't being replaced by another host for the show.

There's merit to the CBS statement in a genera, sense: NBC executives became alarmed when The Tonight Show dropped to an average of 3.3 million viewers with Conan O'Brien as host in 2009, about two million fewer than predecessor Jay Leno. Colbert averaged 2.4 million in the most recent quarter.

And late last year, one of the most notable credit agencies downgraded the ratings of some corporations that own several local American television stations, as people flock from cable and over-the-air networks to streamers and the internet. There was even a report last year suggesting that NBC was considering giving the 10 p.m. hour back to affiliates, who are craving as much of their own ad revenue as possible in troubled times, either from local businesses or political campaigns in the U.S.'s perpetual election cycle.

Whatever the reasons, Colbert always seemed to be the leader among the trio of him, Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel who kept Canada, or "cold Mexico," in view. Befitting and reflecting the times over the years, the coverage evolved from silly and mirthful jabs at our food, culture and penchant for apologizing, to more biting material as the U.S.-Canada relationship turned more antagonistic.

Rubio, Vancouver's presidential candidate

The affinity to Canada stretched back to his previous show, Comedy Central's The Colbert Report, where a bit resulted in Stephen Colbert Day being proclaimed in Oshawa, Ont., in 2007.

When Colbert scored the coveted CBS gig to succeed David Letterman, he debuted in 2015, just as the U.S. presidential cycle was kicking into gear. 

Republican candidate Marco Rubio came in for a pasting after it was discovered that a campaign ad included stock footage of the Vancouver skyline and a tugboat with a Canadian flag. 

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Colbert suggested the next ad for Rubio, in which the words "baseball, apple pie and Mom" were matched with images of an NHL hockey scrap, poutine and Queen Elizabeth II. The vow to "fix the education system" was paired with a picture of the original early 1990s Degrassi High cast.

The subsequent election of Republican wild card Donald Trump spawned stories of despondent liberals considering leaving the U.S., but Colbert was having none of it. He urged Americans to be resilient, ride out bumpy times and not flock to the country with "the language of France and the culture of Minnesota."

Trump's first term saw the president threaten Canada with softwood lumber tariffs. Colbert drew laughs from the studio audience at Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City for a ribald joke involving Justin Trudeau and "wood," and also when he read out the highly officious response to the policy written by then-national resources minister Jim Carr.

Carr's retort — he "strongly" disagreed with the tariffs — was treated by Colbert as the equivalent of an expletive from polite Canada.

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'Polite one up'

The tumultuous first Trump term — consistent White House turnover, two impeachments and roiling American incidents — provided Colbert enough fodder, but occasionally Canadian cultural changes were clocked, too.

When a line in the Canadian national anthem was changed in 2018 to better reflect modern times, Colbert implored his audience to, "Please rise and place your hand over your beaver."

A singing Mountie then took the stage for a rendition of the new "anthem," replete with the usual clichés about Canadian weather and moose, but also nods to "sexy Ryans" Reynolds and Gosling. The song ended with a show-stopping "Our prime minister is hot" over an image of Justin Trudeau, who on another episode was likened to "the prince from Tangled."

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Changes to Canada's cannabis laws — "polite one up," the show advised — featured on more than one show, with Colbert warbling off-key after the laws went into effect, "Oh cannabis, I'm staring at my hand." 

The host then introduced Canada's new pot tourism ad, where an oh-so-chill narrator enjoys a mix of Canadian wildlife and mildly hallucinogenic images, ponders "deep" thoughts, hankers for poutine and sings a few bars of One Week by the Barenaked Ladies before getting easily distracted again. 

When a years-old brownface photo of Trudeau emerged in the 2019 election campaign, Colbert went with a pithy approach that included an inference to frequent, racially charged U.S. stories: "It's not us this time! Suck it, Canada!"

With a more friendly Joe Biden administration in power and COVID-19 affecting production, the Canadian content from 2021 to 2023 tended to involve celebrities — actor Thomas Middleditch took a Canadian citizenship test in an interview done remotely, and his fellow B.C. native Michael Bublé was a good sport in a pre-recorded bit on Canadian cuisine. 

One exception was the trucker convoy protests of early 2022, during which Colbert expressed bafflement at the presence of Confederate flags:

"I didn't know you could secede from a country you were never part of."

Trudeau trades barbs, makes his case

Things changed again in 2024, as Trump completed a remarkable comeback and spoke of Canada at length in hostile terms, threatening tariffs and annexation. 

Trudeau, facing his own looming election, sat down for a conventional, stunt-free interview in September.

While Trudeau was already in town for the UN General Assembly, it seemed clear that advisers were pulling out the stops to remind Canadians of his appeal — The Late Show is aired on Global stations — as he sought a fourth term in office.

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After a few minutes of light banter — Trudeau extolled the virtues of Canada's culture and made a pitch for the U.S. to implement Canadian health care — things turned more serious.

Colbert dutifully reported that Trudeau was trailing badly in the polls, though Opposition Leader Pierre Pollievre was referred to as "Canada's Trump." 

WATCH l Canadian voters may have already heard his pitch on Colbert: 

Every answer Trudeau gave Colbert he’s given before | About That

A week after the House of Commons resumed, Prime Minister Justin Trudeau made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Andrew Chang breaks down the interview by looking at how Trudeau answered Colbert's questions: To an American audience, they may have seemed off-the-cuff — but almost all the answers were ones Canadians have heard many times over. Images supplied by Getty Images and The Canadian Press.

When asked if he deserved a fourth term in office, Trudeau's answer was perhaps less-than-rousing for Canadians facing inflationary pressures.

"The reality is, um, I deeply believe in continuing to fight climate change, in continuing to invest in people, continuing to be there to support people and I'm going to keep fighting at it," said Trudeau.

Ontario MP Ryan Williams called Trudeau the "punchline" in a subsequent House of Commons session, and the appearance came during a week when the Conservatives introduced a non-confidence motion. 

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When Trudeau's successor was named, Colbert took note of the Canadian election win for Mark Carney, saying it spared everyone from Trump repeatedly mangling the pronunciation of Pollievre.

Following up on a mild-mannered Carney statement of standing up for Canadian businesses and citizens in the face of Trump's trade threats, Colbert kissed both of his fists:

"Let me introduce you to my two friends — Quiet and Reasonable."