Late Show With David Letterman bandleader Paul Shaffer is just as stunned as viewers are that CBS is canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert and the entire Late Show franchise .

“Shocking. Absolutely shocking,” Shaffer said of the decision in a recent Entertainment Weekly interview . “That’s all I can say. I mean, I don’t know what more to say about it. Stephen Colbert was absolutely number one.”

Shaffer was a CBS employee for decades, leading the CBS Orchestra and serving as David Letterman ’s sidekick for the host’s entire Late Show run, from 1993 to 2015. Previously, Shaffer filled the same role on Letterman’s NBC show, Late Night With David Letterman , from 1982 to 1993.

And the musician thinks the end of The Late Show might indeed portend the end of

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