Stephen Colbert was planning to leave ‘The Colbert Report’ even before ‘Late Show’ news

For those of you wondering whether or not Stephen Colbert was taken away from Comedy Central because of a move by CBS to hire him, we come bearing some news: It did not exactly work out like that.

Earlier this week, the finale of “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” with Jerry Seinfeld was uploaded onto Crackle (watch all episodes here), and in it Colbert made it very clear that it was always his intention to say farewell to “The Colbert Report” even before getting the offer to replace David Letterman on “The Late Show.” Why? It was simply a matter that he was “ready to stop.” We don’t really blame Stephen, given that he had spent a great chunk of his career playing a character who was not really himself every night, and while the money was great, he probably got to a point where he was financially happy and he did not want to be mistaken for that character offscreen anymore.

Now, this new show allows him a chance to be in the spotlight, but to actually be himself and to showcase some of his own personal interests for a change.

For those wondering, Colbert also told Seinfeld that he and Jimmy Fallon went out for drinks after the news was made official, and he does not envision there being any late-night war between them similar to Letterman and Jay Leno. These two have been friends for some time, and Colbert even did a series of gags with Jimmy from time to time on “Late Night” and then “The Tonight Show,” with Stephen even welcoming him to 11:30 by dumping out coins all over his desk. Check out the video below!

The new “Late Show” premieres on CBS this September, and we envision having more news in due time. For now, be sure to sign up to get some additional TV news on all we cover via our CarterMatt Newsletter. (Photo: CBS.)