Strike Force Five is back for an emergency reunion, with five late-night hosts set to release a new episode on May 13, nearly three years after their last one. The episode will be the 13th installment of the podcast, and it lands just days before The Late Show's final episode airs on May 21.
The return was teased with a line from The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: "Emergency Strike Force Five episode loading." Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and John Oliver originally launched the podcast in 2023, during the Hollywood writers and actors strikes, to support crew members who had lost income. The original run lasted 12 consecutive episodes, each roughly 60 minutes long, and all proceeds went directly to out-of-work crew members.
The timing gives the reunion a sharper edge. CBS cancelled The Late Show on July 17, 2025, and Byron Allen's Comics Unleashed is set to take over the time slot on May 21, the same day Colbert's final episode is scheduled to air. That makes the new Strike Force Five episode more than a nostalgia play: it brings the five hosts back together at the exact moment one of the show's central figures is closing out his run.
The podcast was unusual when it began because it put five competitors from different networks on the same show, but the reason for the reunion is simple. The hosts built Strike Force Five as a relief effort during the 2023 labor stoppages, and this latest episode revives that same spirit while Colbert prepares to sign off. For listeners, the answer to why it matters today is plain: the reunion arrives not as a throwback, but as a sendoff.
