The other day, The Late Show on CBS came to an end with the final episode of Stephen Colbert’s run as host. While late-night shows are proving to be unprofitable in the age of on-demand streaming and the near collapse of traditional cable, it feels like a good moment to reminisce about how influential Stephen Colbert has been in political comedy and commentary.

Almost everybody remembers him first as one of the co-anchors of The Daily Show during its prime, alongside a newly graying Jon Stewart. He was so funny on the show that he simply could not be contained within Comedy Central’s flagship political program.

So for years, he went on to create The Colbert Report, which brilliantly cast him as a fictional version of himself: a hardline conservative in the mold of Bill O’Reilly, often parodying the Fox News host in inspired fashion. What made The Colbert Report so satisfying was that everyone knew he was pretending. And much to Bill O’Reilly’s frustration, Stephen Colbert almost never broke character during its entire run.

Arguably his greatest achievement was serving as the featured comedian at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner during the George W. Bush administration. The dinner is usually a pretty funny event, but Bush was not among those who found it funny that night. Conservatives were furious, while liberals found it absolutely hilarious.

Then, over a decade ago, following David Letterman’s retirement, CBS gave The Late Show to Colbert, much to the anger of many conservatives and Craig Ferguson fans. Technically, it was not even a change of employer, since Comedy Central and CBS are both owned by the same parent company. But he could no longer maintain the same persona, and we got to see the real Stephen Colbert for the first time. I will admit I was not the biggest fan of The Late Show because it was not as funny as The Daily Show or The Colbert Report, but Stephen Colbert never lost his values or focus. I had tremendous respect for him when he had Ted Cruz on as a guest. The crowd booed, and he asked his audience not to treat his guest that way, noting that there is a certain ethic that comes with inviting someone onto your show in the first place. Like him or not, if you truly know Stephen Colbert, you know he is a man of integrity.

Unfortunately, Donald Trump and the CEO of Paramount-Skydance are reportedly on good buddy-buddy terms, and while it was never officially confirmed, it became widely speculated that Trump heavily pressured the network regarding Colbert’s future. Conveniently for Trump, the show also carried a high production cost with almost no profitability. But honestly, I wish Stephen Colbert would sue Donald Trump over this, because it would be a clear First Amendment issue and a transparent attempt to silence a critic. Just the other day, Trump posted an AI-generated video depicting himself throwing Colbert into a trash can. It is shameful that a president (who should be focused on improving a deeply unhappy country) spends so much time lashing out at critics and perceived enemies.

Now his political comedy career appears to be on pause. The only project he is currently working on is a Lord of the Rings production with Peter Jackson, which is a passion project of his. If that is all he does next, I wish him the best of luck and congratulate him on a remarkable career. You would think he would be a natural choice to become the next permanent host of The Daily Show, but that is also a Paramount platform. I would personally love to see him replace Bill Maher in the Real Time slot, but with Paramount likely merging with Warner Bros., the same problem could arise there too. The most realistic path forward is probably a podcast, which could actually be pretty interesting, especially if it offered a genuine alternative to the kind of content you get on garbage Reich Wing podcasts like The Joe Rogan Experience.