CBS gained’t simply be shedding a franchise when The Late Present With Stephen Colbert goes off the air subsequent yr; it’ll be shedding a master-level grasp of ceremonies. After graduating from The Colbert Report’s studio to the Ed Sullivan Theater in 2015, Stephen Colbert didn’t simply put his personal comedic stamp on the Late Present legacy. He additionally paid homage to TV historical past, wore his coronary heart on his sleeve, supported inventive expression, and spoke reality (and never simply truthiness) to energy. See excessive factors from Colbert’s final decade on the Late Present desk beneath.
2015: He honors his predecessor and his competitors within the Late Present premiere
In The Late Present With Stephen Colbert’s collection premiere, the host tipped his hat to his predecessor, former Late Present host David Letterman. “His inventive legacy is a excessive pencil mark on a door body that all of us should measure ourselves towards,” Colbert mentioned. “However we are going to attempt to honor his achievement by doing one of the best present we will and infrequently making the community very mad at us.”
That very same episode noticed Colbert chatting good-naturedly along with his late-night competitors, The Tonight Present’s Jimmy Fallon. In a present of sportsmanship, the 2 late-night rivals wished one another present and mentioned they’d see one another “within the locker room.”
2015: He bonds with Joe Biden about grief
On Colbert’s third-ever episode, he interviewed then-Vice President Joe Biden, who had expressed doubt about operating for president following the dying of his son Beau. Colbert, as Biden identified, was no stranger to grief, having misplaced his father and two brothers in a 1974 aircraft crash. And in that episode, the 2 males commiserated about perseverance born from necessity.
2015: He performs hardball with Donald Trump
After Fallon caught flak for a softball interview with Donald Trump, Colbert went the wrong way, grilling the then-presidential candidate on his views about immigration, the U.S.-Mexico border, and Barack Obama’s birthplace. He additionally gave Trump an open mic to situation apologies, however the former Apprentice star refused.
2018: He tears up listening to Helen Mirren learn Tennyson
Colbert appears to at all times be in contact along with his feelings, as confirmed in 2018 when visitor Helen Mirren learn the poem “Ulysses” by Alfred Lord Tennyson on The Late Present. As Mirren learn the verses with theatrical vigor, Colbert listened shut, his chest heaving and his eyes brimming with tears.
2018: He discusses the sexual misconduct allegations dealing with his boss
In July 2018, as then-CBS Company Chairman Les Moonves got here beneath fireplace for alleged sexual misconduct and intimidation, Colbert wasn’t afraid to place his community’s management within the crosshairs.
“I do consider in accountability and never only for politicians you disagree with,” he mentioned on the present. “All people believes in accountability till it’s their man, and, make no mistake, Les Moonves is my man. He employed me to sit down on this chair. He stood behind this present whereas we had been discovering our voice. He gave us the time and the assets to succeed, and he has stood by us when individuals had been mad at me. And I like working for him. However accountability is meaningless until it’s for everyone, whether or not it’s for the chief of a community or the chief of the free world.”
2020: He quotes ‘The Hound of Heaven’ to Phoebe Waller-Bridge
Colbert had Phoebe Waller-Bridge “utterly blown away” when he theorized that the mysterious fox in her present Fleabag was the “Hound of Heaven” from the Francis Thompson poem of that title. Then he started recounting strains from the 1890 ode: “Ah, fondest, blindest, weakest, [I am He] Whom thou seekest! Thou dravest love from thee, who dravest Me.”
Astonished, Waller-Bridge mentioned, “I can’t consider you’re simply reciting it like this!”
2021: He joins Christine Baranski in a Sondheim duet
Colbert isn’t only a fan of epic fantasy novels (extra on that beneath) and Nineteenth-century poetry; he’s additionally a musical theater buff. And when Christine Baranski returned to the present post-lockdown, she and Colbert carried out “Facet by Facet by Facet” — a present tune from Stephen Sondheim’s Firm, a musical wherein they’ve each carried out — aspect by aspect, with Batiste offering piano accompaniment.
2021: He proves his encyclopedic Lord of the Rings data
Dominic Monaghan, Billy Boyd, and Peter Jackson gave Colbert a Lord of the Rings quiz on The Late Present in 2021. Colbert proved that in relation to LOTR lore, he’s a frontrunner of males, answering all however one ent-errogation accurately.
2021: He permits Andrew Garfield a monologue about grief and artwork
Andrew Garfield misplaced his mom to most cancers earlier than he filmed Tick, Tick… Growth!, and on The Late Present, Colbert requested the actor how artwork helped him via his grief. After which Colbert let Garfield wax philosophic, uninterrupted, for 2 and a half minutes. The actor defined how grief is unexpressed love and the way artwork — together with that of Colbert and his then-bandleader, Jon Batiste — “sew[s] up our wounds.”
2024: He defends Kristen Stewart’s Rolling Stone cowl
When Kristen Stewart sat down for a Late Present interview in March 2024, Colbert instructed the viewers CBS didn’t need him exhibiting her just-released Rolling Stone cowl photograph, a picture of her along with her hand down her jock strap. “They thought that will be not a good suggestion for us to point out this, and I don’t know perceive why,” Colbert mentioned, sounding genuinely baffled.
Stewart mentioned, “I believe there’s a sure overt acknowledgment of a feminine sexuality that has its personal volition in a method that’s annoying for people who find themselves sexist and homophobic.”
And Colbert mentioned, “I’ve definitely seen extra revealing covers on Rolling Stone, or Sports activities Illustrated, for that matter. … I believe it additionally violates public expectations of feminine sexuality, versus the way you’re presenting it right here.”
2024: He denounces violence in politics
Colbert isn’t any fan of Trump, however he condemned the try on the then-2024 presidential nominee’s life in Pennsylvania. “My fast response[s] after I noticed this on Saturday had been horror at what was unfolding, aid that Donald Trump had lived, and, frankly, grief for my stunning nation,” he mentioned. “Our job as Americans is to reject violence and violent rhetoric on this time of disaster, nevertheless arduous we wish to struggle for our concepts. And in that regard, not solely is violence evil, it’s ineffective.”
2025: He calls out Paramount World for settling with Trump
Simply days earlier than CBS introduced The Late Present’s cancellation, Colbert criticized father or mother firm Paramount World for paying Trump $16 million to settle his 60 Minutes lawsuit forward of the corporate’s merger with Skydance Media.
“As somebody who has at all times been a proud worker of this community, I’m offended,” the host mentioned. “And I don’t know if something will ever restore my belief on this firm, however simply taking a stab at it, I’d say $16 million would assist.”