Stephen Colbert will sign off for good at the end of Thursday night’s “Colbert Report,” but the memories he leaves behind from nine years of satirical late-night comedy may out-live all of us.
The ultra-American conservative character from the mind of a Canadian liberal will provide some pretty huge shoes for replacement Larry Wilmore and “The Nightly Show” to fill. As for Colbert’s next stop, the new CBS host will kick off his “Late Show” tenure after David Letterman calls it quits on May 20, 2015.
In honor of the conclusion of one of the late-night genre’s best-ever offerings, TheWrap has compiled nine of the top “Colbert Report” segments from the show’s same number of years on Comedy Central.
Watch the videos:
2005: Colbert invents the word “truthiness,” and perfectly sums up why the United States of America is so damn divided: “We are divided between those who think with their head, and those who know with their heart.”
2009: Colbert interviews “Jesus, Interrupted” author Bart Ehrman — the perfect opponent for the comedian’s faux conservative character to blindly argue on behalf of blind faith.
2012: Colbert politely destroys Diane Keaton to demonstrate to future celebrity guests why they should never try to outwit the comedian interviewing them.
2012: Colbert enlists pal Jon Stewart to help resolve his Super PAC coordination problem, and effectively explains to Americans how Super PACs work.
2013: Colbert takes a break from comedy to give a beautiful tribute to his mother, Lorna Colbert. He snuck in some jokes, don’t worry — but this one will give you tears of sadness, not the usual ones you emit from fits of “Colbert Report” laughter.
2013: Daft Punk cancels on Colbert’s Colbchella. Instead of pouting, the comedian enlists many of his celebrity friends and makes the best version of “Get Lucky” the Internet has to offer.
2014: Colbert defends the new Sith lightsaber featured in “Star Wars: Episode VII” trailer, and his sound logic puts the biggest nerds on the Internet to shame.
2014: President Obama takes over for Colbert on his famed “The Word” segment, re-naming it “The Decree” and just straight-up killing it. You know, for a president.
2014: Colbert welcomes “Hobbit” dragon Smaug into studio, where the fire-breather endorses Rand Paul while taking shots at his human co-stars. Smaug also has a little something up his sleeve for you, Benedict Cumberbatch.