Paramount and Skydance announced Friday that, with the Trump administration’s approval, the highly anticipated merger between the entertainment giants is expected to take place next month.

Kicking off Monday’s show with a joke about Trump wanting to change the name of the Washington Commanders NFL team (the “Washington Epsteins,” Colbert suggested), he walked into the Ed Sullivan Theater to loud cheers and said “This is going to be fun.” It certainly was.

CBS canceled Stephen Colbert's late night show last week. By not appreciating, defending and nurturing The Late Show Paramount is muzzling its best voices, and diluting its own broadcast future.

With this week’s FCC approval, the merger between Paramount Global and Skydance Media is expected to be completed in the coming weeks at a value of $8 billion. The question for the new company is whether the psychic cost is much higher.

A wild season premiere of "South Park" showed Donald Trump in bed with Satan and tore into Paramount for canceling Stephen Colbert's "Late Show."

Show' host's comments came shortly before it was announced that CBS has canceled 'The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.'

Federal regulators on Thursday approved Paramount's $8 billion merger with Skydance, clearing the way to close the deal.