What’s up my babies?! Yeah, that’s right. “TV Review.” I’m not just here doing movies and shit. I’ve graduated to the realm of the small screen. It’s a brave new world that I’m entering into, but I truly believe that if we go into this together, our combined strength will carry us through and we can defeat the evil that haunts this ancient land, and…shit. That was a tangent if I’ve ever seen one. What was I talking about? Oh right! Stephen Colbert.
Earlier this year, we lost a glorious beacon of light when Colbert departed from The Colbert Report, and the world got that much darker a few weeks ago when Jon Stewart vacated the anchor’s chair at The Daily Show. Now, a bit of that luminescence has returned because Colbert has hosted his first episode of The Late Show. It’s a good day for TV.
Perhaps the biggest question many of us had upon hearing the news that Colbert would leave his Comedy Central show for CBS was to what degree he would remain in character. Unlike Stewart, who allowed his uninhibited emotions and beliefs to seep into his show, Colbert portrayed himself as Fox News-style conservative pundit, not so subtly attacking the hosts he was duplicating. Would this lovable blow-hard be left at Comedy Central’s World News Headquarters, or would he carry over to the hallowed halls of the Ed Sullivan Theater?
The answer, surprisingly enough, is that the character of Stephen Colbert, remains almost completely intact. Personally, I was in the camp that thought he would drop his persona and try to host as his true self, or as close to his true self as he (or anyone for that matter) can be on television. Thankfully for all members of Colbert Nation, it appears that The Late Show has become more of The Colbert Report version 2.0.
Colbert addressed the situation of his predecessor and the future of this show in his first segment. He was abundantly clear that he cannot and would not try to replace David Letterman. This show, although it has the same name and time slot, would be something unique to Colbert. But as I said a second ago, unique to Colbert bares a lot of similarity to the Report. The stained glass is there, Captain America’s shield is featured prominently, The audience chants “Stephen! Stephen!,” and even his on-screen graphics look exactly like those of old.
And then there was the second segment, following the first commercial break. It was here that we were all treated to a few wonderful minutes of old school Report. Colbert got his chance to rip on the candidacy of one Mr. Donald Trump, poking fun at his proposals for a Mexican border wall, his newfound disdain for Oreos, and ending it all with a montage of Trump saying the word “stupid.” After going through Colbert withdraw for so long, this was like a shot in the arm and felt absolutely wonderful.
Colbert’s Late Show also looks to be a lot more political than any of the other network TV late night talk shows. There is the obvious point that while most host do mock Trump, not many of them would put together a seven minute video package detailing exactly why he’s an ass. Then, during his interview with former Governor Jeb Bush, he asked what, if anything, serves to politically differentiated him from his brother. I seriously wasn’t expecting a question of this caliber, and I don’t think Bush was either. If Colbert plans on continuing to grill his guests like this, The Late Show is going to be something special.
But it wasn’t all perfect. During the George Clooney interview, Colbert begins to ask about Clooney’s involvement with the human rights violations in Darfur, but this topic is quickly discarded in favor of talking about Clooney’s new wife. Maybe this was something that the network didn’t want to get into, or maybe Colbert just didn’t want to get too dark on his very first night. Either way, it’s a shame that this couldn’t have been explored further.
It’s hard to look at any sort of TV show and judge its quality after just one episode. This gets even harder when you’re talking about a variety show-style format. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will likely run for years and years, evolving significantly along the way. The show we saw last night will probably bare little resemblance to the last show that he hosts, but if it’s any indication of the quality that we should expect, this could quickly become the best the late night television has to offer us. Welcome back Stephen Colbert. It’s good to see you again.
Quick Notes
>Best Joke of the Night: Colbert has a Cursed Amulet that granted him this show, but demands that he do commercials for Sabra Hummus in return.
>Worst Joke of the Night: In his opening monologue, Colbert brought up the Ashley Madison hack. I really hope he doesn’t start doing a standard topical monologue. He’s better than that.
>The house band, John Batiste and Stay Human, are funky as fuck! Although Batiste constantly has the look of a kidnap victim, pleading for help with his eyes.
>Jon Stewart makes a cameo right at the beginning of the show, and he’s listed as an executive producer.
>Colbert makes two different jokes about Trump being orange, but never comments on how fucking orange George Clooney looks. Seriously, is there something wrong with my TV? Why does he look so orange?!
>Stay tuned to The Nerd Punch ’cause I’m going to keep watching The Late Show and in a few weeks we can all take a look at how his show has progressed and what happened once it gets into a groove. See y’all around!
