RAAAAAAAAAAAH. A low G threatens to overwhelm the melody. It’s “The Star-Spangled Banner,” with a surprisingly robust lower harmony. Bum bum bum. This opening is whimsically patriotic, everything I could have wanted. When Colbert finally appears and looks out over the crowd for the first time, his toothy grin transforms into something more genuine than just a performer’s smile, and I have to believe he’s missed us too. We cheer “Stephen!” and he melts our hearts with a “Hello, nation.” It’s almost as though nothing’s changed.
But something has changed. It’s a new show, and this time Stephen takes the stage alone, without the iconic persona of his self-described “narcissist conservative pundit” alter ego. How will it go? I feel like I’m watching hyper-vigilantly. Was that line stiff, that laugh forced? Through a touching tribute to Letterman and tour of the new studio (complete with stained-glass dome: Catholic to a fault), I worry that this new show, so much less “niche” than the Report, will prevent the spirals of profound absurdity that I’d so relished before. Will this new Stephen be . . . bland?
I needn’t have worried. Not a third of the way in and he’s promoting Sabra Hummus in order to appease the “Unquenchable Lord of the Pit,” and a political segment lambasting the insanity that is Donald Trump culminates with Stephen lying in a pool of half-eaten Oreos. To top it off, he graces George Clooney with a heartfelt wedding gift: a paperweight inscribed with the words “I don’t know you.”
And on comes the Jeb Bush interview. I’m excited both to observe Colbert’s interview style with a new late-night identity and to absorb any onstage backlash against Bush, whom Colbert called out earlier month after he announced that he was raffling off a ticket to the show without consulting anyone on Colbert’s team. The resulting series of response videos and tweets were pithy and almost cutting, but I don’t know what to expect for the onstage follow-up.
On the first count, the interview was fantastic. Bush’s penchant for stump speech didn’t make for particularly exciting content, but Stephen’s new non-satirical style opened up more opportunity for the guests to be less guarded than they were on the Report. As for the raffle backlash, little took place during the show itself. The only hint came from Stephen’s repeated calls of “Jeb!” in reference to the exclamation mark in Bush’s logo, which Stephen had called attention to in his video response to the fundraiser. A bonus segment on CBS’s website features a question for Bush from the winner of Stephen’s counter-raffle, an astute query about Bush’s policy on gun control. After Bush’s advocacy of state-level legislation, the subject was closed, and no further conflict took place.
One rousing musical number later, the show came to a satisfying close. Is this what we can expect from the new Stephen Colbert? As the show runs on, he’ll settle in, finding his new rhythm. Though he made light of the idea, I hope this truly is a new chapter in television history. Just as Stephen began college with Letterman’s premiere, so I start my freshman year to the soundtrack of what I hope—and believe—will be a new cultural landmark.