Stephen Colbert has found Trump-related positive in Late Show cancellation

Stephen Colbert is relieved he won't have to think about Donald Trump as much when his talk show comes to an end.

The 61-year-old star will hang up his microphone when The Late Show comes to an end after 11 seasons on 21 May and while he has become known for his blistering attacks on the US President, he is relieved not working will give him the chance to switch off and "opt out" of discussions about the state of the country when he wants to.

Asked if there is an element of relief that he won't have to think about Trump in the same way, he told the New York Times newspaper: "Oh, yeah. Now I can be as interested as I want to be on a daily basis, as opposed to as interested as I need to be to do a show that is about what our national conversation was about.

"I can opt out of the national conversation for a day or two. I mean, I’m an American. I still care about my country. I’m still going to care, but I can do that recreationally, you know, or privately."

Trump has been a vocal critic of a number of late night shows, and Stephen thinks it is because he hates being laughed at.

He said: "Authoritarians don’t like anybody who doesn’t give them undue dignity. Comedians are anti-authoritarian by nature. And authoritarians are never going to like anybody to laugh at them.

"The number of newspeople who have said to me or Jon Stewart or any of the guys who do this, 'God, I wish I could say what you say on air.' And we can. I think that upsets them. I think it might be upsetting that we really do not live in their world of principalities and powers.!

Although he thinks Trump is a "complete narcissist" working for his own interests, Stephen insisted he isn't biased.

He said: I don’t have any problem with Trump being a Republican. I have a problem with Trump being a complete narcissist who is only working for his own interest and does not appear to care if the entire world burns.

"That’s not a partisan position. I have eyeballs and ears, and I think calling late night partisan is just roughing the ref. And we don’t even want to be refs, but they perceive us as refs.

"I reject the partisan description. Partisan means you’re never, ever going to make a joke about a Democrat, and that’s just not true. There’s just no comparison of how fertile the fields are."