Stephen Colbert on why pizazz isn’t needed in the impeachment hearings

Stephen Colbert pushed back against Republicans who called the public impeachment hearing boring.

Stephen Colbert knows what it takes to make good television. He’s been doing it for decades and never better than as host of The Late Show. So Colbert definitely has the expertise necessary to push back against Republicans calling the public impeachment hearings boring and lacking pizazz.

Many Republican lawmakers called for more transparency in the impeachment inquiry. So in an effort to bring closed-door testimony to the public, the House held a televised hearing on Wednesday that provided more context to President Donald Trump’s controversial call to Ukraine.

Late night hosts include Stephen Colbert had a lot to say about the testimony from diplomats Bill Taylor and George Kent. As expected, they saw the details shared by Taylor and Kent as damning for President Trump and further proof that he should be removed from office.

However, Republicans and other supporters of the President were less than impressed. Expecting more entertainment value from the hearing, some called the testimony boring or suggested that it failed to capture the public’s attention.

That reaction led Colbert to question why “pizazz” is a necessary part of serious government proceedings. Watch his Late Show monologue to hear Colbert insist that a “wow factor” isn’t a requirement for trustworthiness.

Colbert knew that Republicans would dismiss the testimony no matter what was revealed. But what he didn’t expect was that the main complaint was that the hearing was boring. For Colbert, it’s another example of President Trump’s defenders not engaging with the actual facts of the case and instead trying to find other ways to discredit the process.

Colbert doesn’t try to argue that the hearings were excited and acknowledges that they could be tedious. But the government isn’t a reality television show no matter how ridiculous The Late Show makes it look each night.

What Colbert does find entertaining is the thought of President Trump trying to drum up more support by movie nights and small talk. Colbert and the rest of late night have had plenty of fun with President Trump’s search for a sporting event that wouldn’t boo him. It now sounds like he’s doing the same around Washington.

More public hearings are scheduled as part of the ongoing impeachment inquiry. But as Stephen Colbert warns Republicans, don’t expect their notes to be taken into consideration and a new level of “pizazz” be injected into the proceedings. The entertainment can be found at The Late Show instead.