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From the New York Times: Goodbye, Nation, Goodbye, Blowhard Self: Stephen Colbert Prepares Final 'Colbert Report' Includes interviews with some pretty big names, including Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Kimmel.

Here's a backgrounder on the Swedish political situation, in case anyone's interested. (I was born in Sweden, have family there, and visit every year or two.) The prime minister was a good sport to go along with the IKEA jokes.

Hey, it's the first promo for "The Nightly Show"! http://on.cc.com/1vTXWWx

When David Letterman left NBC for CBS there was a lot of talk about certain bits which NBC claimed as their "intellectual property." I think "Viewer Mail" had to be renamed "CBS Mailbag" and Larry "Bud" Melman had to be referred to by his real name, Calvert DeForest. I don't know if Comedy Central would kick up a fuss if Colbert tried to keep doing his signature bits, but my guess is that they will either be retired or renamed, just to create a clean break with the past.

A few changes/updates to the post-holiday bookings... 1/5/15 Ron Funches, Nikki Glaser, Jon Daly 1/6/15 Paul F. Tompkins, Tom Lennon, TBA 1/7/15 Andy Daly, Brett Gelman, TBA 1/8/15 Whitney Cummings, Neal Brennan, TBA 1/12/15 Marc Maron, Jen Kirkman, John Hodgman 1/13/15 Doug Benson, Hari Kondabolu, Grace Helbig 1/14/15 Patton Oswalt, TBA, TBA 1/20/15 Nick Thune, Ben Kronberg, TBA 1/21/15 Rory Scovel, Emily Heller, TBA 1/27/15 Jim Norton, TBA, TBA 2/2/15 Nick Kroll, TBA, TBA

New talk shows usually tape quite a few practice episodes before going on the air. I wonder if it will take Stephen a while to transition to doing interviews, comedy bits, etc. as himself instead of as "Stephen." Imagine the writers having to come up with all-new segments to replace Tip/Wag, Cheating Death, the Sport Report, Threatdown, the Word, etc. What an undertaking.

I give thumbs up to the royals piece; it was a fun bit of fluff (for Jon & the staff, I'm sure, as well as the viewers) after the horrifying torture revelations. On Monday, barring some massive bit of weekend news, it'll be all about the cromnibus, and God knows there's plenty to despair about there.

As usual, TDS is the last stop on the Promotional Express. I swear Chris Rock's been interviewed everywhere from "Fresh Air" to my local supermarket advertising circular by now.

A few updates for next week. There will be an episode of @M following the final "Colbert"; Comedy Central will be airing a daylong "Colbert Report" marathon on Thursday. 12/15/14 Spike Feresten, Jessimae Peluso, Donnell Rawlings 12/16/14 Brooke Van Poppelen, Kevin Pereira, Wil Wheaton 12/17/14 Alice Wetterlund, Mike Lawrence, Matt Braunger 12/18/14 Margaret Cho, Drew Carey, Blaine Capatch

"The new show ["The Nightly Show"] will be taped in Colbert's midtown Manhattan studio" so yes, I would imagine the folks on the technical side of things will be staying put.

The Mary's Diner report made the front page of the Winston-Salem Journal. I visited a friend who lived in the area a few years ago, and while we didn't go to Mary's, we did visit a couple restaurants that offered Bible tracts, religious books for sale, etc. You weren't forced to take them or look at them, but they were located prominently. It made me pretty uncomfortable. If I lived there I'd probably shun places like that, since it's the equivalent of a neon sign announcing "You don't belong here."

NEW YORK, December 11, 2014 - Truthiness be told, the Nation will bear witness as Stephen hosts the remaining four episodes of "The Colbert Report" during the week of December 15, with the final show to air on Thursday, December 18 at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT. Said Colbert, "Our last week of shows are going to be really special, just like every other week." Scheduled to appear are Seth Rogen (12/15), Kendrick Lamar (12/16), Phil Klay (12/17), and Stephen's colleague and lifelong friend Grimmy (12/18).

A reminder to "Soup" fans: this is the week it moves back to Friday. Looks like "Gayusa" will be getting an award...

12/15: Tim Burton (director – promoting movie “Big Eyes”) 12/16: Paul McCartney (promoting his single "Hope" from the new video game "Destiny") 12/17: Anna Kendrick (actress – promoting movie “Into The Woods”) 12/18: Chris Rock (comedian/actor/director – promoting movie “Top Five”) Weeks of 12/22 & 12/29: DARK!

Just got an updated guest listing for the week, and Thursday's guest is listed as Special “THE HOBBIT: THE BATTLE OF THE FIVE ARMIES” Guest. I wrote back and asked for clarification, and it turns out the guest's identity will remain a secret until the show airs. Since both Peter Jackson and Ian McKellen have been guests on the show before, I'm not sure who else could be so special that it must be hush-hush. The reanimated corpse of J.R.R. Tolkien?

Kind of apropos that it's written in the form of a mock obituary, since there's been so much foreshadowing that "Grimmy" (the Grim Reaper) will be taking "Stephen" on the 18th.

She might remember me -- I'm not sure. Our paths haven't crossed since high school. A couple of years ago, a British journalist managed to track me down via phone and asked me if it was true that Gillian had had lesbian relationships in high school. I told her I didn't know and I surely wouldn't comment on it if I did! It's always funny to see Jon with somebody like Jon Hamm or Benedict Cumberbatch because he seems super obsessed with how attractive they are. Personally, I find Jon S. better looking than either of those guys, but that's probably a minority opinion anywhere outside this board.

Gillian did NOT have a British accent. That would have stuck out like a sore thumb at our midwestern high school. Despite our both being involved in theater, we did not travel in the same circles at ALL -- she was pretty cool and had a punk look and I was a preppy nerd. I do hope she goes back on TDS at some point to plug "Hannibal"! When Trevor Noah was first announced as a new correspondent, somebody posted the video below, which I absolutely love. If you haven't seen it, treat yo'self.

"The Daily Show" has apologized for including Dante Parker in a list of police shootings Ramos still sounds like a douche, though. Incidentally, since we're talking about Jon's old costars and their appearances on TDS, I went to high school with Gillian Anderson and acted in a school play with her. Even back then, talent oozed out of every pore! No, seriously, I never would've guessed she would be the one person from my high school who would go on to become a celebrity. I do envy her having co-starred with Jon. Cosigning every else's fondness for Trevor Noah. He's touring the UK next fall (yes, these are 2015 dates -- I checked). Hope he will be spending lots more time in the U.S. from now on!

Monty may have been correct, as the 18th doesn't appear at all on the upcoming-guest listings. 12/8/14 Paul F. Tompkins, Alex Borstein, Brandon Johnson 12/9/14 Jim Jefferies, Rhys Darby, Al Madrigal 12/10/14 Judah Friedlander, Brooks Whelan, Mamrie Hart 12/11/14 Doug Benson, Megan Neuringer, Kurt Braunohler 12/15/14 Jessimae Peluso, Donnell Rawlings, TBA 12/16/14 Kevin Pereira, Wil Wheaton, TBA 12/17/14 Alice Wetterlund, Mike Lawrence, Matt Braunger (break) 1/5/15 Ron Funches, Nikki Glaser, Jon Daly 1/6/15 Paul F. Tompkins, Grace Helbig, TBA 1/7/15 Andy Daly, TBA, TBA 1/8/15 Whitney Cummings, TBA, TBA 1/12/15 Marc Maron, Jen Kirkman, John Hodgman 1/13/15 Doug Benson, Hari Kondabolu, TBA 1/14/15 Patton Oswalt, TBA, TBA 1/20/15 Nick Thune, Ben Kronberg, TBA 1/21/15 Rory Scovel, Emily Heller, TBA

12/8: Norman Lear (promoting book “Even This I Get To Experience”) 12/9: Kathryn Bigelow & Juan Zarate (director & terrorism expert – promoting PSA “Last Days”) 12/10: Suki Kim (author – promoting book “Without You, There Is No Us”) 12/11: Mick Foley (promoting documentary “I Am Santa Claus”)

12/8/14 TBA 12/9/14 James Corden - Film, “Into the Woods” 12/10/14 Sarah Koenig - Host & Exec Prod, “Serial” podcast 12/11/14 TBA It wouldn't surprise me if some big names show up to celebrate the end of the Nation -- I'll update once the TBAs have been filled in. I'm super psyched about Sarah Koenig, since I'm a "Serial" junkie.

There were early screenings of movies, though, at least in the 80s, so I'm guessing they also existed in the late 70s. I attended an early screening of "E.T." -- I think it may have been sponsored by a radio station or something. (One of my favorite things to do as a child was to sit by my phone and try to be the fifth caller or whatever -- I won several prizes as a result.) Stephen's anecdote took me back to a time when there wasn't the saturation coverage of movies we have now. Still, "Star Wars" did receive some pre-release hype; Time Magazine originally planned to feature the film on the cover of the May 30, 1977, issue (the writer of the piece called it "a grand and glorious film that may well be the smash hit of 1977, and certainly is the best movie of the year so far"), but it was bumped from the cover by Menachem Begin.

Did anyone watch Napolitano? My husband made me fast-forward through it -- I'll usually watch the interviews no matter how bad/annoying (though I did skip O'Reilly a few weeks back) -- and I was curious if it was worth going back to.

Slight schedule change: Dave Grohl and Sophie Delauney will be switching days, so Grohl will be on tomorrow, Delauney on Wednesday.