Stephen Colbert brought an old friend back to The Late Show Thursday night to weigh in on Jimmy Kimmel’s suspension. Introducing “our new ombudsman,” Colbert welcomed “Stephen Colbert”—the bombastic right-wing blowhard he played on The Colbert Report—to deliver a brand-new installment of “The Word.”
“Daddy’s home. Yep, so drop trou and lay across my lap, ‘cause I’m gonna spank you with freedom until I can see the American flag reflected in your shiny swollen ass,” the character proclaimed as he emerged from beneath Colbert’s desk to cheers and applause.
The segment, which aired in the show’s second act, saw the character addressing what he called a “free speech crisis” sparked by Kimmel’s punishment. Declaring the night’s “Word” to be “Shhhhhh!”, Colbert mocked what he portrayed as a new media landscape where the only way for talk show hosts to stay on the air is to stop saying anything that might upset Donald Trump—or the FCC’s Brendan Carr.
“You can have your rights just as long as you don’t use them,” he said. “You can talk and still say nothing. All you have to do is repeat whatever the approved message from the White House is today.”
The character urged fellow hosts to censor themselves, report their colleagues, and “just shut up and take it,” even if Trump were to “send the army to your hometown.” He concluded by warning viewers that “sometimes you have to destroy freedom to save it,” before signing off with a familiar “and that’s the word.”
This wasn’t the first time Colbert has revived his faux-conservative alter ego on The Late Show. Since first returning in 2016—after Viacom initially objected to CBS using the character—he’s reprised the role about half a dozen times to deliver new “Word” (or “Werd”) segments, most recently in January 2023.
I have not watched Stephen in a while and laughed hysterically. LOL.