CBS SAID YES TO STEPHEN COLBERT’S FINAL JOKE… BUT NOT WITHOUT A SURPRISE TWIST. K2

Stephen Colbert on ‘The Late Show’; Linus in ‘A Charlie Brown Christmas’.Credit: CBS; United Feature Syndicate

CBS is paying for a Stephen Colbert gag from the final episode of The Late Show.

The network will pay a licensing fee to Lee Mendelson Film Productions, Inc. (LMFP) — the company behind the iconic Peanuts animated specials and their soundtracks — after Colbert’s house band, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine, played Vince Guaraldi’s “Linus and Lucy” during the talk show’s finale in May, LMFP announced in a press release.

However, LMFP agreed to donate all the proceeds of CBS’ payment to World Central Kitchen, the nonprofit organization founded by José Andrés that provides free meals during times of crisis. World Central Kitchen previously received a $2.5 million donation on behalf of The Late Show on the show’s penultimate episode.

“LMFP found the music’s use on The Late Show funny and entertaining, and is proud to support World Central Kitchen’s mission,” LMFP’s chairman, Jason Mendelson, said in a statement. “A principal goal of our enforcement actions is to educate individuals, businesses, and government entities about the need to obtain written license agreements to use music in a commercial setting.”

Entertainment Weekly has reached out to representatives for Colbert for comment.

The segment in question saw Colbert cheekily read a headline about how the license holders for Guaraldi’s Peanuts compositions tend to sue anyone who uses the music without going through the proper licensing channels.

“Anyone illegally using that music is going to have to pay through the nose,” Colbert said as Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine began to perform the track. “Louis! Is the band right now playing the same Peanuts music that I just said people were being sued for for using without permission? Is that what it’s doing?”

After Cato confirmed that the tune was, indeed, “Linus and Lucy,” Colbert sarcastically responded, “Oh no! I hope this doesn’t cost CBS any money!”

The Late Show came to a close on May 21 after 33 years on CBS, the last 11 of which were hosted by Colbert. The network claimed that the move to end the talk show was “purely a financial decision” and that it was unrelated to “the show’s performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount.”

The final episode of the talk show ended with a performance of the Beatles’ “Hello Goodbye” courtesy of Paul McCartney, Elvis Costello, Jon Batiste, Cato, and Colbert. Earlier in the episode, Bryan Cranston, Paul Rudd, Tig Notaro, Tim Meadows, and Ryan Reynolds appeared in brief cameos in the studio audience, and fellow late-night hosts Jon Stewart, Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver appeared in a pre-recorded segment (along with Neil deGrasse Tyson).