Stephen Colbert roasted Donald Trump after his State of the Union address saw a decrease in viewers from the year prior, prompting the late night host to call out his own ratings surge.
The comedian weighed in on Trump’s State of the Union ratings during Thursday’s episode of “The Late Show,” where he joked in his monologue that CBS should “cancel” the president for “dragging down broadcast television” — a clear reference to his own cancellation at the network.
“The Nielsen ratings for his speech are in, and Trump’s talk-a-athon saw an 11% decrease from last year,” Colbert said. “I mean, Donald Trump is really dragging down broadcast television. I mean, if I were CBS, I’d cancel him now.”
He continued: “But you know, linear television is doomed and everyone’s ratings are going down, right? I’m sorry. What’s that? Our ratings were up 7%. Over the same speech last year … I’m up 7%. Wow. Holy cow.”
At this moment, Colbert’s studio audience erupted into cheers and began repeatedly chanting, “Stephen!”
After briefly taking in the praise, Colbert added: “You know what I think was going on? People may not like watching Trump, but they do like watching me not like watching Trump.”
Before moving on from the topic, Colbert suggested that Trump could’ve increased his viewership if he had “a blockbuster halftime show featuring Bad Bernie [Sanders].” Watch Colbert’s full monologue below.
As we previously reported, Trump’s State of the Union drew 32.6 million viewers, which was down 11% from last year’s congressional address. The speech, which ran from 9:12 p.m. to 10:59 p.m. ET, broadcasted across 15 networks.
While viewership for the address was down 11% from the 36.6 million viewers that tuned in for Trump’s congressional address last year, it was up slightly from the 32.2 million viewers that tuned in to watch former president Joe Biden’s last State of the Union address in 2024.
“The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET on CBS.
