“The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” is an hour‑long late‑night talk show; its regular broadcast runtime is about 60 minutes including commercials, with roughly 40–43 minutes of actual show content.

Basic runtime

  • The show airs weeknights at 11:35 pm Eastern on CBS as an hour‑long late‑night program.
  • Like other network late‑night shows, the full broadcast slot is 60 minutes, but only around 40 minutes are actual show segments once ads are removed.

Taping vs. TV length

  • If you attend a live taping at the Ed Sullivan Theater, expect to be there longer: audience guides describe the in‑person experience as roughly 75–120 minutes to capture all segments, pickups, and crowd work.
  • That longer in‑studio session is then edited down to the standard 1‑hour TV episode that airs on CBS.

Information gathered from public forums or data available on the internet and portrayed here.