Having filled New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater for 11 years with his The Late Show after replacing the icon David Letterman to host Only in Monroe, a program on Michigan’s public access community television, alongside guests like Jeff Daniels, Steve Buscemi, or Eminem and with Jack White as volunteer musical director.
Stephen Colbert fulfilled what he stated to his loyal audience in the last episode of the show canceled by CBS. In his opening monologue, when he announced that this would be the last show in the New York theater, Colbert already asked his audience not to be sad: “We were lucky to be here for the last 11 years, okay? We can’t take this for granted. (…) Although technically our first show, in July 2015, was from a public access community channel in Monroe, Michigan, for an audience of 12 people. Given the state of show business today, that’s probably where you’ll see me again.”
So said and done. One day after the grim finale, childishly celebrated by the President of the United States, Donald Trump, Colbert made a surprise appearance as host of the community program Only in Monroe, broadcast in southeastern Michigan, on the shores of Lake Erie.
His appearance on the local public channel comes after being left without a show due to the host’s criticism of the deal between Paramount, owner of CBS, and Donald Trump. This pact allowed the U.S. president to receive a $16 million settlement in exchange for dropping a lawsuit he filed against the news program 60 Minutes for editing an interview with Kamala Harris when she was a candidate and which, according to Trump, favored the Democrats.
Once his dismissal was executed, the U.S. president sent several messages on his social media mocking Colbert and stating that he would not be the only late night host canceled thanks to his pressures. Trump has repeatedly pressured the Federal Communications Commission to revoke licenses from TV networks, asked Walt Disney to fire ABC’s late-night host Jimmy Kimmel, and urged NBC of Comcast to fire host Seth Meyers.
“Stephen Colbert’s firing from CBS was the ‘beginning of the end’ for talentless, unpleasant, overpaid, unfunny late-night hosts with very low ratings,” Trump wrote on Truth Social. “Others, with even less talent, will follow soon. May they all rest in peace!”
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“It’s been about 23 exhausting hours without being on TV, so I’m happy to be on Monroe Community Media before they get acquired by Paramount,” Colbert quipped in the early moments of a show with a set where the austerity and simplicity compared to the Ed Sullivan Theater added intensity to his satire.
Colbert adapted to the new environment and started his monologue with local humor and regional jokes, such as the Monroe News, a segment focused on the rivalry between two local hot dog stands: Monroe’s Original and Vince’s.
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He also reunited with Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson, the regular hosts of Only in Monroe, with whom he took shots of Cane & Grain, an 80-proof liquor from the local River Raisin Distillery, and talked about Baumann’s battle with thyroid cancer while inhaling helium in turns.
Among the celebrities who collaborated in his reappearance, Steve Buscemi appeared in a fake commercial for a local pizzeria about which he confessed to knowing absolutely nothing, except that it shares his last name. Later, Jeff Daniels, a resident of nearby Chelsea, Michigan (and Colbert’s first guest on a test episode of The Colbert Report), appeared preparing his now viral Colbert Questionert while answering the host’s questions.
Rapper Eminem, raised in Detroit, appeared on video playing the “fire chief” who authorized setting fire to the remains of the set that Colbert, White, and Daniels destroyed at the end of the show.
Colbert also spoke via FaceTime with comedian Byron Allen, who will host Comics Unleashed, the program that will replace Colbert’s canceled Late Show.
It was the second time Colbert hosted Only in Monroe. As he explained during the surprising Friday broadcast, he had already hosted an episode in the summer of 2015, just before taking over “Late Night” after David Letterman.
It was unclear where or when Colbert recorded this last episode, which aired exactly 24 hours after his last “Late Night” show.
For now, it is unknown whether Colbert will keep the program, if it was a one-time show, or if he has any plans to remain at the pinnacle of American comedy. For now, and despite no longer being on CBS, Trump’s plan does not seem able to silence humor or satire.
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