Much has been said about Stephen Colbert’s May 21 curtain call on The Late Show. In fact, Colbert often jokes about it on air. But with less than a month to go, the late-night host sat down with the New York Times for a more serious assessment of the show’s finale.

Stephen Colbert is making sure that his sweet, sweet punchlines live on even after The Late Show comes to a close next month. During his opening monologue on Wednesday, the 61-year-old comedian paused while discussing the war in Iran to ensure that he shipped all of his unused jokes about the conflict to Jimmy Kimmel.

From offensive jokes to political uproars, these moments weren’t laughing matters.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert won’t quite be over on May 6, and Barack Obama’s presidential library won’t quite be open, but the duo will be sitting down for a chat next month just before the late night host heads into the CBS sunset.

Stephen Colbert's last few weeks on The Late Show are going to be banger episodes. Plus, the joke handoff he sent Jimmy Kimmel.

The early days of The Daily Show were wild. When you purchase through links on our site, we may earn an affiliate commission. Here’s how it works. I did not like it, at first. Especially at first, because I was new and I was kind of following the template.

Ahead of the final show on May 21, memorabilia from “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” being sold on eBay to benefit World Central Kitchen. Bidding ends April 29.