Talk show icon Dick Cavett was seen for the first time in public since 2020 as he supported departing The Late Show host Stephen Colbert on Thursday. Cavett, 89, who suffered a stroke in 2020, leaned on a walking frame as he attended Colbert's final show afterparty in New York City alongside wife Martha Rogers, 71.
The Dick Cavett Show host cut a suave figure in a tuxedo as he waved at fans, while Rogers wowed in a frilly green gown. Cavett's last public appearance was at a February 2020 screening of his documentary Ali & Cavett: The Tales of the Tapes, shortly before his devastating health woes. The month prior, he had appeared on The Late Show with Colbert.
In a 2025 interview with Nebraska Free Press, Cavett revealed he was doing well after his stroke, saying: 'I don't feel permanently dramatically scarred or wounded by it. A lot of people cannot say that. A stroke is a wicked, wicked thing.' He added that 'everything had come back' to him during his recovery.
During his lengthy career, the talk show host interviewed a number of prominent celebrities, including Groucho Marx, Jimi Hendrix, Marlon Brando, Muhammad Ali, Judy Garland, Lucille Ball, Jackie Robinson, John Lennon and many others on The Dick Cavett Show. In 2024, he starred in a music video for a song called Dick Cavett, written by New Jersey musician Marc Ribler, that honored his career. The Dick Cavett Show ran from 1968 to 1986.
Cavett joined the toast of the television world to bid farewell to Colbert's show after 11 seasons on air, with Katie Couric, John Oliver, Anderson Cooper joining stars Paul McCartney and Mark Hamill at the after party. However, Colbert's grand finale left many fans unimpressed after Ryan Reynolds appeared as a surprise guest.
During the first half of the special final episode, Colbert, 62, had a string of celebrity cameos in the audience, each jokingly wondering whether they would be his last interview, before Beatles icon Paul McCartney ended up being his final guest. Colbert interviewed Cavett in 2020 before his stroke.
Fans were left irritated when Blake Lively's husband Reynolds, who played a major role in her legal war with Justin Baldoni, was among the surprise appearances. Colbert quickly shut him down, joking: 'Ryan, it's great to see you, but I hate to tell you, you're not my last guest.' 'Ouchie,' Reynolds replied. 'Okay, well in that case I'm just happy to be here. Pay my respects to the one of the world's greatest entertainers in his last night at the Ed Sullivan theater.' After Colbert thanked him, Reynolds quipped, 'I was talking about your keyboardist, Corey Bernhard.' Reynolds then got up to give Bernhard a prolonged hug and a gift of bananas, before the musician playfully shook him off. 'Thank you. Please stop DM-ing me,' Bernhard told him. 'Never,' Reynolds replied.
'Who thought it would be a good idea to trot Ryan Reynolds out? Was the goal to get as many a**holes in screen as possible?' one fan on X questioned. 'Why have Ryan Reynolds on his last show!!! Ugh!' another wrote. 'ryan reynolds EW EW EW EW EW,' another chimed in. 'Ryan Reynolds????? WHAT???' another fumed.
Meanwhile, President Donald Trump delivered a scathing message after the episode ended. 'Colbert is finally finished at CBS. Amazing that he lasted so long! No talent, no ratings, no life. He was like a dead person. You could take any person off of the street and they would be better than this total jerk. Thank goodness he's finally gone!' he wrote on Truth Social.
Colbert has spent nearly 11 years at the helm of The Late Show, taking over as host in September 2015 from David Letterman, 79, who launched the late-night talk show in 1993 and retired after 22 years. McCartney ended up being the final guest. The moment proved historic as McCartney and his Beatles bandmates, John Lennon, Ringo Starr and George Harrison, famously made their first TV appearance in the United States at the Ed Sullivan Theatre, where Colbert is filmed, in 1964.
