The final episode of ‘The Late Show’ is scheduled for May 21.

Tom Hanks gives Stephen Colbert a birthday gift on The Late Show: ‘You’re going to be doing some serious résumé writing’

The final episode of 'The Late Show' is scheduled for May 21.

By Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt

Raechal Shewfelt is a writer at **. She has been working at EW since 2024. Her work has previously appeared on Yahoo and in American *Journalism Review* and *The Shreveport Times*.

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May 14, 2026 1:23 a.m. ET

Tom Hanks appeared on 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert' on May 13. Credit:

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

- Tom Hanks appeared on *The Late Show With Stephen Colbert *on Wednesday, which was the host's birthday.

- The Oscar winner presented Colbert with gifts for "some serious résumé writing."

- He also joked that Colbert should take some CBS stationery before his last show on May 21.

Stephen Colbert had a very happy birthday on Wednesday's episode of *The Late Show With Stephen Colbert*.

His guest, actor Tom Hanks, surprised him with a gift: a box of dot matrix paper.

"This is great paper that's always connected," Hanks said. "It's not enough to have great paper. You need a tool with which to use that paper, and you're going to be doing some serious résumé writing and what have you."

The typewriter enthusiast then presented Colbert — with the help of women he called the Hankettes — a classic machine from Underwood.

Hanks also tossed in a bag of his Hanks Coffee, which he's selling to benefit veterans.

Pitching his new History channel documentary, *World War II With Tom Hanks*, the actor had presented Colbert with another gift when he first arrived on the stage: a ream of paper bearing the CBS logo.

"Dude, you're moving on, and there is so much stuff to steal from the offices right now," Hanks told Colbert, who's wrapping up his show. "They're never going to miss it."

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Hanks also talked about three amazing filmmaking moments he'd had during his career, including filming the scene in which he washes up on shore in *Splash*, when he runs through Paris' Louvre museum in *The Da Vinci Code*, and a time when he and the late Rob Reiner came upon a busload of commuters who happened to be watching the tiramisu scene in *Sleepless in Seattle*.

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CBS announced in July that was ending the *Late Show* franchise, which began with host David Letterman in 1993.

"*The Late Show With Stephen Colbert* will end its historic run in May 2026 at the end of the broadcast season," the network said in a statement. "We consider Stephen Colbert irreplaceable and will retire *The Late Show* franchise at that time. We are proud that Stephen called CBS home. He and the broadcast will be remembered in the pantheon of greats that graced late night television."

The statement emphasized that the choice was based on money.

"This is purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," it continued. "It is not related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."

Stephen Colbert hosts Wednesday's episode of his show.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

Colbert's television peers have consistently supported him. On Monday, some of his final guests included fellow late-night luminaries Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. They announced a special episode of their *Strike Force Five* podcast to commemorate the occasion while raising money for charity.

Kimmel and Fallon have both also said that *Jimmy Kimmel Live* and *The Tonight Show *will both air reruns on Colbert's last night.

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Source: “EW Talk”