Stephen Colbert’s historic debut as the new Late Show host was yesterday night on NBC. If you missed it, it was every bit as amazing as expected. Even with David Letterman’s colossal shoes to fill, Colbert displayed his wit, humor, and likeability with hilarious bits like George Clooney’s nonexistent movie Decision Strike, political jokes about Donald Trump and Oreos, and—what some believe is missing from the current generation of talk show hosts—conversations with guests that were both funny and intelligent.
Here is one of our favorite segments from yesterday’s show:
What some may not know is that Stephen Colbert is actually one of our favorite customers. During his nine-year run as everyone’s favorite conservative on the Colbert Report, the comedian started a wristband campaign called WristStrong and decided to order his wristbands with us. It began after Colbert fell and broke his wrist onstage.
Even as a satirical campaign, WristStrong became a hit. Colbert instructed his audience, who received free bands, to offer them up to anyone more famous than themselves. Soon many celebrities were spotted wearing the signature red bands. In probably the coolest thing that has ever been done with one of our products, one of the WristStrong bands was even given to astronaut Garrett Reisman and sent to space! Maybe it’s still floating around on the International Space Station today (and hopefully Sandra Bullock can bring it down for us).
We’re excited to see what else Stephen Colbert has in store for his Late Show audience. If you’ve ever watched Colbert out of character, it should have been clear even years ago that he is just too funny, thoughtful and clever to be confined to one somewhat narrow satirical role. Take for instance the touching tribute to his mother. Or the times we saw his true, out-of-character passion for politics on interviews with Meet the Press or Larry King.
Probably the most unexpected moment was during a casual coffee meeting with Jerry Seinfeld on Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee. Colbert asks Jerry if he has ever heard of the band Neutral Milk Hotel, and then begins effortlessly reciting the band’s surrealist lyrics. Line by line, the comic assumes the aura of a poet. It was a side of Colbert few had seen before. He ended with reciting, “And when we meet on a cloud / I’ll be laughing out loud / I’ll be laughing with everyone I see / Can’t believe how strange it is to be anything at all,” commenting on how mind-blowing of a metaphysical puzzle the indie rock song alludes to.
On the Late Show, Stephen Colbert will of course first and foremost be a comedian, and a hilarious one, but it should be fun to see more glimpses of Stephen the music lover, philosopher, or political pundit as his show continues. Especially in an increasingly juvenile and made-for-internet comedy landscape, one of our favorite customers is sure to be a game changer.
