As comedian Stephen Colbert prepares to exit the late-night stage following a disastrous run at CBS, he refused to bow out with grace and instead used his last gasp to take a parting shot at President Donald Trump.
Colbert interviewed his Comedy Central mentor Jon Stewart during Tuesday’s episode of “The Late Show,” and the arrogance displayed by both men served as yet another reminder of why Colbert was dismissed.
Stewart gushed over his protege, calling him “just a tremendous human and one of my favorite people,” adding that “he can do whatever he wants to do,” which drew the usual mindless applause.
And rather than acknowledge that it was time for Colbert to move on, Stewart did what came naturally: He blamed Trump.
“The ubiquitous bloviating of the commander-in-chief has put us all, as defined as who we are in opposition to him, and it’s just a ridiculous framing,” Stewart claimed. “It’s a minute portion of the joy machine that you call your show. And it’s annoying.”
“Close your eyes and dream,” he added. “The day that the electorate in this great nation we call home repudiates this putrid administration, the day that that happens, my brother, my brother, there will be — and I mean this — the day that that happens, there will be a joyful noise from the bowels of this great country that will make Hungary’s repudiation of Orban look like an Amish Sabbath.”
In a YouTube extended portion of his interview with Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart claims it is “a ridiculous framing” to view the late night shows as Trump opposition, yet he urges the audience to “Close your eyes and dream. The day that the electorate in this great nation we call… pic.twitter.com/TcWb1EzZ4Y
— Alex Christy (@alexchristy17) May 20, 2026
Talk about out of touch. Stewart might as well have screamed “I’m smarter than you,” given his vocab choice. He also lied about the political bias currently infecting the entertainment industry.
Back in October 2024, at the height of the presidential race, the Media Research Center reviewed every joke told on late-night programs from Sept. 3 to Oct. 25. Researchers examined hosts like Colbert and Stewart, along with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers.
The result? Almost 100 percent of the jokes targeted Trump.
It wasn’t the president, or the public, who gave them this legacy. These comics willingly, night after night, attacked Trump and his supporters as if the world was coming to an end.
Kimmel infamously shed crocodile tears following Trump’s 2024 victory and later made comments about the assassination of conservative activist Charlie Kirk that nearly got him cancelled.
In addition, he described First Lady Melania Trump as having the “glow of an expectant widow,” just days before an assassination attempt was made against the president at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner.
Does that sound like a group of apolitical comedians who just want to bring joy to the masses?
Colbert inherited a massively successful brand that went back decades with David Letterman. He was handed a built-in audience to blend with his own niche following from the “Colbert Report.”
He was paid millions to attract younger viewers, while still honoring traditions of the past.
Colbert had all the tools to be successful, yet he failed because he alienated half his audience from the jump.
Every late-night comic, from Colbert and Kimmel to Fallon and Conan O’Brien, has constantly praised Johnny Carson as their idol. Yet they disrespect his memory by siding with one political party and treating political correctness like it’s a religion.
Carson was more beloved than all of them combined because he kept his politics out of it. The king of late night even laid out a blueprint for his success during a 1984 interview with Barbara Walters.
“I think one of the dangers if you are a comedian, which basically I am, is that if you start to take yourself too seriously and start to comment on social issues, your sense of humor suffers somewhere,” he declared.
“Some critics have said that our show doesn’t have great sociological value, it’s not controversial, it’s not deep. But ‘The Tonight Show’ basically is designed to amuse people. To make them laugh.”
Jay Leno, who succeeded Carson as host of “The Tonight Show,” said his politics were a mystery and that he would “equally make fun of everybody.”
Actor Vince Vaughn also highlighted late night comedy’s problems back in March, saying that, “Podcasts have gotten so much more popular with less production, less writers, less staff… People want authenticity… So people just rejected it because it didn’t feel authentic. It felt like they had an agenda. It stopped being funny.”
As America enters the podcasting age, these biased late-night hosts will likely fade into obscurity, and in the end, they’ll have no one to blame but themselves.
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