On the final night of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” the host harked back to a stunt he did just prior to that show going on the air and said, “Technically our first show in July of 2015 was from a public access station in Monroe, Michigan for an audience of 12 people. Show business being what it is these days, that’s probably where you’ll see me next.”
Few would have taken that gag for an actual tune-in, but that is exactly where Stephen Colbert turned up next, as 24 hours later, he returned to the airwaves in Michigan — hosting, without any serious prior warning, an hour’s worth of public-access TV. It turned out to be, well, at least one-fourth as star-studded as what he’d done the night before, and was arguably considerably more hilarious, in its hyper-minimalist fashion.
Colbert was joined for the low-budget hour by a couple of famous Michigan residents: musical director Jack White, who provided bumper music courtesy of a boombox and reel-to-reel machine, and guest Jeff Daniels. Eminem and Steve Buscemi also turned up in filmed cameos. And Colbert put in a FaceTime call to his successor in the CBS late-night slot, Byron Allen.
“Since I was last here in Monroe, Michigan, I spent 11 years as the primary host of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘ on CBS, which came to an end last night,” he said at the beginning of the 11:35 p.m. local broadcast Friday. “It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV, so I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community Media before they also get acquired by Paramount.”
