Stephen Colbert’s monologue was briefly derailed after an audience member audibly shouted, “What?!” during a joke about Pete Hegseth’s spending.
During Tuesday’s monologue for “The Late Show,” Colbert called out a recent report accusing the secretary of war of blowing billions on luxury items, including iPads, Herman Miller recliners and fruit basket stands.
“So far, this war has cost over $6 billion,” Colbert noted. “But, burning through cash is nothing new for Secretary of War Pete Hegseth. ‘Cause a government watchdog discovered that he blew billions on things like $5.3 million for new iPads, $60,000 for Herman Miller recliners and $12,000 for fruit basket stands.”
At this moment, a woman from the audience could be heard loudly declaring, “Wait, what?!”
This interruption tickled Colbert, however, as he responded with, “That’s what I think. ‘What?! ‘Was that you? Did you say that out loud?”
He added: “Thank you for paying attention to the words I say, madam. Either that or you just woke up in this theater [like], ‘What? Not again.’”
Colbert then pivoted back to his planned monologue, where he continued on with the original joke.
“So anyway, $12,000 for fruit. Okay,” Colbert noted before gesturing back to the woman. “‘Wait, you’re ordering fruit?’ This is my emotional state, right?”
Colbert then joked that Hegseth should just do “the normal thing” and “put a clementine in your tote and find it three weeks later when it’s a furry gray golf ball.”
Unable to shake the hilarious exchange, Colbert then said “I’m with her,” before sharing, “Reportedly, the Pentagon spent $2 million on crab legs, $6.9 million on lobster tail and over $15 million on ribeye steaks.”
When the audience began booing this update, Colbert jokingly came to the Pentagon’s defense. “They’re just hearkening back to our founders,” he joked. “As Paul Revere declared on his famous ride, “One if by surf, two if by turf.”
The list of luxury purchases didn’t stop there, as Colbert also called out the $140,000 spent on donuts, the $124,000 spent on ice cream machines and the over $3,000 spent on stickers featuring characters from “Dora the Explorer,” “Frozen” and “Paw Patrol.”
“And despite all that, nobody came to Pete Hegseth’s birthday party,” Colbert quipped.
For Colbert’s full commentary on “the historic splurge,” watch his entire monologue above.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
