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When Stephen Colbert joked during Thursday night’s Late Show finale that fans would probably see him next on public-access television in Michigan, it sounded like a throwaway bit.
Turns out he already had the booking lined up.
Just one night after signing off from CBS, Colbert popped up on Only in Monroe, a hyper-local public-access show out of Monroe, Mich., where he fully leaned into the absurdity of going from network late night to community television in less than 24 hours.
“It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV,” Colbert said near the top of the broadcast. “So I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community Media before they also get acquired by Paramount.”
The crack was one of several aimed at Paramount and CBS following the cancellation of The Late Show, which came amid Paramount’s merger with Skydance.
The episode itself basically played like a tiny-budget version of Colbert’s old CBS show. He delivered a monologue, riffed about Monroe’s alleged Big Foot sightings, and repeatedly joked about the production’s lack of money.
At one point, Colbert asked whether Milwaukee’s Best had sponsored the episode.
“They’re not?” he said after getting an answer from off-camera. “And we don’t have any sponsors, and we actually lost a lot of money making the show tonight? Now I know how CBS felt.”
The guest lineup was unexpectedly stacked for a local-access show. Only in Monroe hosts Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson — aka Miss America 1988 — joined Colbert on-air, while Detroit native Jack White served as musical director using a boombox and reel-to-reel player.
Michigan heavyweights Byron Allen and Eminem also made appearances, and Steve Buscemi stopped by for a fake commercial promoting Buscemi’s Pizza & Subs, which he clarified was “no relation.”
Elsewhere in the episode, Colbert sampled local booze, tried Monroe-style chili dogs, and made peanut butter, potato chip, and barbecue sauce sandwiches alongside actor Jeff Daniels.
The appearance wasn’t completely random, though. Colbert actually guest-hosted Only in Monroe once before in 2015, shortly before he officially replaced David Letterman on The Late Show.
That earlier episode also featured Eminem, whom Colbert jokingly introduced at the time as “a local Michigander who is making a name for himself in the competitive world of music.”
Colbert even referenced the show during Thursday’s Late Show sendoff, joking that Only in Monroe once pulled in “an audience of a dozen people.”
“Show business being what it is these days,” he said, “that’s probably where you’ll see me next.”
By Friday night, he’d already made good on it.
The episode ended with Colbert and several guests smashing apart the set with hammers before setting it on fire in a dumpster outside. You can watch it in full above.
English (US)