In his opening monologue, Stephen Colbert didn’t get the chance on Tuesday to tell a lot of jokes about the news that the House of Representatives has launched a formal impeachment inquiry into President Donald Trump. But his audience didn’t seem to care, because they were too busy celebrating with a standing ovation.
On Tuesday’s “The Late Show,” Colbert began by rattling off numerous Donald Trump scandals, including “Russian collusion, obstruction of justice, saying Nazis are fine people, being an unnamed co-conspirator to campaign finance violations, lying about the Moscow Trump Tower, stealing money to pay for the border wall” and “faking the weather with a Sharpie.”
Every time, Colbert said, “People asked, ‘Is this the thing? Surely this must be the thing,’” only for it to turn out “every time, this wasn’t the thing.” Then after saying, “Here’s the thing: There’s a new thing. And it might be the thing,” Colbert rolled footage from House Speaker Nancy Pelosi’s announcement of an impeachment inquiry.
As soon as the clip ended, the in-studio audience broke out into loud cheers and stood up for an ovation that lasted nearly 40 seconds as a surprised Colbert and his bandleader, Jon Batiste, looked on. Then Colbert waved the crowd to calm down and joked, “OK, but how do you feel?”
Watch the clip below.
TONIGHT: Is this the thing?! #LSSC pic.twitter.com/WfIfZZoOkt
— The Late Show (@colbertlateshow) September 25, 2019