Stephen Colbert returned to TV, with a cross-country rendition of “The Star Spangled Banner” and an umpire’s call to play ball. While Colbert has promised that he is leaving behind his right-wing loudmouth character in his new gig — “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” — nothing could stop the studio audience from chanting Colbert’s name as he took the stage. It has been nine long months since “The Colbert Report” ended, and it’s wonderful to have Colbert’s talents return to the late night landscape. While “The Late Show” has generally stuck to the standard network talk show formula, the first week suggests that the Stephen Colbert’s true personality is an invaluable addition to late night TV — full of fun, intelligence and heart.
Colbert is clearly having a blast at his new home. He comes out every night with a giant grin, dancing to the music of Jon Batiste and Stay Human. Each night he has delivered a standard late night opening monologue — one that is not typical for Colbert’s brand of satire, but has given him a chance to highlight his showman skills and glowing charisma.
“The Late Show” hits its stride as Colbert takes a seat at his desk and launches into lampooning the 2016 presidential race, tackling everything from the insanely large field of candidates to Hillary Clinton’s authenticity problems. He even bet an audience member $100 that she couldn’t identify borderline-invisible GOP candidate and former Virginia Gov. Jim Gilmore. She failed.
And you can’t forget the Trump jokes. A highlight segment from the opening show saw Colbert comparing coverage of the GOP front-runner’s outlandish comments with Oreos. This sort of political material was Colbert’s bread and butter on Comedy Central, and even after ditching his pundit character, Colbert hasn’t missed a beat. Colbert is a pro at this, and as the race heats up, he could easily become the go-to political comedic voice — now that Jon Stewart has retired.
Other segments, such as delivering increasingly bizarre commandments while wearing a comically huge Genghis Khan hat and being forced to deliver product placement by a cursed amulet, demonstrate a silliness and absurdity that provide a good counter to his political material. The highlight was certainly the “Yesterday’s Coffee” fake commercial from the Friday show, which started as a silly riff on household product commercials but then took a hilariously dark and existential turn. It goes to show that even though Colbert is on a more mainstream channel, he hasn’t given up his wackier sensibilities.
In contrast to other late night shows, “The Late Show” interviews provided some of the best moments of the first week. Colbert’s straightforward and sincere style doesn’t sacrifice humor, even if the interviews may not be as purely entertaining as those on “The Colbert Report.” While his celebrity interviews were entertaining, Colbert looks to differentiate himself by inviting other figures like SpaceX CEO Elon Musk and Uber CEO Travis Kalanick. These guests suggest he’ll bring on a diverse array of industrialists, scientists and authors in addition to celebrities. No performer walks the line between comedy and politics in an interview like Stephen Colbert. He asked great questions while leaving room for some light mockery. He didn’t go after his subjects like he may have on “The Colbert Report,” but the interviews were still wonderfully informative and are a good counterpoint to the typical late night celebrity fluff.
Without a doubt, though, the highlight of Colbert’s run thus far has been his heartfelt interview with Vice President Joe Biden. It was incredibly inspirational to see Colbert and Biden discuss and lay bare their personal experiences living with and persevering through grief and tragedy. While the interview with Biden felt fully fleshed out, other conversations could sometimes feel rushed by the strict format. Future shows could benefit from sometimes breaking the format of two guests and a musical act in order to delve deeper into one subject. Colbert definitely has the skills to spend 20 minutes with one great guest and make the conversation enlightening and entertaining.
The important takeaway is that late night shows are marathons, not sprints. “The Late Show” may change drastically over the next few months before it perfects its own rhythm. Regardless, Colbert is a world-class talent to have returning to late night TV, and his first week demonstrates why he’s been missed over the last nine months
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