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 Nine months after his final sign-off from "The Colbert
Report" on cable television's Comedy Central channel, Colbert
launched his first major network broadcast as the late-night
heir to David Letterman, taking a moment to pay tribute to his
predecessor.
With CBS Corp President and CEO Leslie Moonves seated in the
front row of the studio audience, Colbert vowed to honor
Letterman's comedy achievements "by doing the best show we can
and occasionally making the network very mad at us."
As he promised for the occasion, Colbert shed the well-worn
persona of the pompous, ultra-patriotic political commentator
that he played for nearly a decade on "The Colbert Report" and
as a regular before that on "The Daily Show with Jon Stewart."
Instead, CBS viewers and his live audience inside the newly
remodeled Ed Sullivan Theater in Manhattan, were treated to an
extended glimpse of the "real" Colbert.
He jokingly explained the difference during an interview with
Bush, when the former Florida governor made mention of the
numerous images of Colbert gracing the stage.
"I used to play a narcissistic conservative pundit," the
51-year-old performer told Bush. "Now, I'm just a narcissist."
Pressed by Colbert to explain his "Jeb!" campaign logo, Bush,
who has been ridiculed as a "low-energy" candidate by rival
Donald Trump, replied: "It connotes excitement."
In an earlier interview with Clooney, Colbert presented the
actor-director with a belated wedding gift for his marriage last
year to human rights lawyer Amal Alamuddin, acknowledging that
he was not invited to the nuptials because the two men are not
well acquainted personally. The present was a Tiffany
paperweight inscribed with the phrase, "I don't know you."
NATIONAL ANTHEM AND STEWART CAMEO
Colbert launched his first episode of the hour-long show with a
pre-taped string of video clips of himself singing "The Star
Spangled Banner" in various locations, including a bowling
alley, a machinist shop and a baseball field. The montage ended
with Jon Stewart, barely recognizable in a grizzled beard,
making a cameo appearance by lifting off an umpire's mask to
shout, "Play ball!"
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From there, the camera cut to Colbert bounding on stage to a
standing ovation from the studio audience and chants of "Stephen,
Stephen, Stephen" - a ritual familiar from his days on "The Colbert
Report."
Even before the Bush interview, Colbert showed his penchant for
mining laughs from politics.
After his opening standup monologue, Colbert segued into a lengthy
routine in which he simultaneously binged on a bag of Oreo cookies
and on video clips of Trump, who has vowed never to eat Oreos again
after snack-maker Nabisco Inc said it was opening a new plant in
Mexico.
In a gag edited out of the broadcast but posted online, Colbert got
Bush to recite some "Trumpier" talking points suggested for their
next presidential debate, including the line: "I will build a wall
between the United States and Iran, and make Mexico pay for it."
It remains to be seen whether Colbert's succession of Letterman, for
whom "Late Show" was created in 1993, will bring about a ratings
realignment of the late-night TV scene.
Colbert faces an uphill climb if he hopes to overtake NBC
counterpart Jimmy Fallon and the decades-long dominance of "The
Tonight Show." Likewise, he will have to work hard to hold his own
in the rankings against No. 3 ABC's "Jimmy Kimmel Live!"
Fallon made his own brief "Late Show" cameo by video feed on Tuesday
as the two hosts compared guest lists and Fallon wished Colbert "a
great show," adding, "See you in the locker room."
It was hard to imagine their predecessors, Letterman and his arch
rival Jay Leno, ever sharing a similar moment.
(This version of the story was refiled to fix typo in paragraph 3)
(Additional reporting by Jill Serjeant; Editing by Jonathan Oatis
and Andrew Heavens)
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