Watch Stephen Colbert's future late-night rivals welcome him aboard

On Thursday night, Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart both celebrated Colbert's move to CBS's The Late Show next year — each in his own way — but Colbert was also welcomed in ways big and small by his future peers on network TV. Letterman himself cheered the hire in a statement: "Stephen has always been a real friend to me. I'm very excited for him, and I'm flattered that CBS chose him." Craig Ferguson, in some ways Letterman's protégé and the host of The Late Late Show, offered a warm but somewhat succinct welcome:

Colbert's main competitors, Jimmy Fallon at NBC and Jimmy Kimmel at ABC, also stretched out their hands. Kimmel tweeted that "a finer or funnier man I do not know," while Fallon went on to "congratulate him on his new name: Jimmy Colbert." Fallon also suggested a new, gentler form of rivalry than the long, sometimes bitter war between his Tonight Show predecessor, Jay Leno, and Letterman:

The most personal note, though, came from Late Night host Seth Meyers. --Peter Weber

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