The punchline to a bit that first aired nearly eight years ago landed Monday night on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert—and it came with a five-figure check.
Stephen Colbert revealed that the winning bidder for one of his recent charity auction items—a U.S. Senate office rug he stole during a 2018 Capitol Hill remote—was none other than its original owner, former Arizona senator Jeff Flake.
“I hold in my hand the winning bid,” Colbert told viewers. “It came from someone named Jeff F. from Arizona.”
Flake then walked onstage to confirm he had indeed paid $10,100.99 to reclaim the rug. “I had no choice, Stephen,” he joked. “That rug really tied the room together.”
The rug dates back to Colbert’s visit to Flake’s Senate office, where the host teased the freshman lawmaker about its modest size before asking whether he could take it with him—“That was a federal crime,” Colbert quipped Monday, revisiting the clip. Colbert brought the rug along with him on a recent visit to Late Night with Seth Meyers, where he announced he was adding it to his ongoing memorabilia auction benefiting World Central Kitchen.
Colbert announced Monday night that the auction had raised $304,411.85 to date, before adding a batch of new items—including several of his suits and a full-size costume of a pint of his “Americone Dream” Ben & Jerry’s ice cream.
Flake’s drop-in marked his third visit to the Ed Sullivan Theater and his first since leaving office in early 2019. Asked how retirement from the Senate suited him, Flake drew one of the night’s biggest reactions: “I get to spend a lot less time thinking about or talking about Donald Trump.”
“That sounds like paradise,” Colbert responded.
Colbert’s charity auction continues at colbertlateshow.com/ebay. Watch the full segment from Monday night’s Late Show below:
