The Show:The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
The Moment: The 10-minute opening
“I’m sure you guys keep up on what’s happening,” host Stephen Colbert began Thursday night. The joke was, no one can keep up: 10-plus minutes later, he was still recapping.
Story one: Elizabeth Warren was silenced on the U.S. Senate floor. “Hush mob leader Mitch McConnell added, ‘Would it kill her to smile? She’s so much prettier when she smiles,’” Colbert riffed.
Story two: Donald Trump complained that Nordstrom dropped his daughter Ivanka’s fashion line — from his POTUS Twitter account. “This is insane,” Colbert said, not even trying to joke. “You can’t use the power of the office of the president to protect a family business.”
Story three: Kellyanne Conway defended Trump’s untruths on CNN (“Are they more important than the things he says that are true?” she asked). “Officer,” Colbert mocked her, “many times when I drive I’m not drunk. Why don’t you pull me over then?”
Story four: The court decision on Trump’s travel ban was about to come down. “I’m Tevo-ing democracy,” Colbert said, “so don’t tell me how it ends.”
Six months ago, any one of those stories would have filled an entire monologue. But TrumpWorld is so outrageous, Colbert has to race from punchline to punchline. Even then, his monologue takes up a full quarter of his show.
It’s a boom time for satirists. Colbert’s political savvy pushed his ratings past Jimmy Fallon’s for the first time since he went on the air in September 2015. SNL and Samantha Bee are killing it. When Trump goes low, their numbers go high.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs on Global and CBS. Johanna Schneller is a media connoisseur who zeroes in on pop culture moments. She usually appears Monday through Thursday.
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