Stephen Colbert joked at the expense of his own network on Thursday’s “Late Show,” on which he explored what kind of tasteful art CBS censors will allow.
Colbert mocked the fact that in order to display the Modigliani painting “Reclining Nude,” which recently sold at auction for $170 million, he had to blur out the nudity.
“As you can see, I have to blur both Hootie and the Blowfish,” he said. “To see the full thing, you have to $170 million. Or the internet.”
He went on to display a Georgia O’Keefe painting which Colbert said clearly depicted “the sex organs of a flower.” And when it comes to Michaelangelo’s “David,” the rules get even stranger.
“I am allowed to display only a distant picture of the ‘David’ for — and this is absolutely true — a total of two seconds,” Colbert said.
