“It is good not to be alone tonight, because it’s the one year anniversary since the attack on our democracy,” Stephen Colbert begins. “I think it is important that we commemorate and reflect on days like this…”
The Late Show host took to the stage last night to mark the attack on Capitol Hill. Colbert recalled how he and his staff were focused on writing a script for that night’s show as the insurrection escalated. He shared his exact expression when he figured out what was going on, with a picture taken by one of his writers.
“That is the face of the man whose Dry January is about to get very wet,” Colbert says. “True story.”
He recalls how he and his staff then tore up their original script. Colbert drove into the city, and he decided to do a live show, riddled with disbelief and anger.
In Thursday’s show, Colbert also played footage from President Joe Biden’s speech marking the anniversary of the attempted coup. He particularly focused on the clips of a stern Biden speaking about a certain former president who cannot bring himself to accept that he lost the election. Ahem.
“Hell yes! Tell it like it is, Joe,” Colbert said. He loved the speech, he tells the cheering audience, saying it reminded him of the Joe the nation voted for.
The show also marked the anniversary with a parody of Rent song “Seasons of Love” — cleverly titled “Abhor-Rent”.