The Late Show with Stephen Colbert’s most-watched monologue of November
By Matt Moore
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert had a busy November as the show continued to get back in the swing of things post-strike. One monologue in particular stood out above the rest.
November ended quietly for The Late Show, although that wasn’t the plan. A ruptured appendix sidelined Stephen Colbert and forced him to cancel a week of shows after Thanksgiving.
But thankfully, Colbert already left behind plenty of material worth revisiting. In particular, his November 1 monologue caught fire. By the end of the month, it earned more than 2.1 million views on YouTube.
The monologue featured Colbert piling on Florida Governor Ron DeSantis for allegedly wearing lifts in his boots. Other late-night TV hosts such as Jimmy Kimmel jumped on the story, but Colbert took it a step further by wearing a pair of DeSantis-inspired boots himself.
Colbert’s monologue also kept his viewers up-to-date on Donald Trump’s legal problems. The Late Show host highlighted how the former president can’t campaign without his trials casting a collective shadow over his run for the White House.
Finally, Colbert turned his attention to comments from President Joe Biden. The president reportedly became more concerned about artificial intelligence after watching Mission: Impossible — Dead Reckoning. Colbert then made Biden’s fears a reality by using a deepfake voice of the president to close out the monologue.
Fans who flocked to The Late Show YouTube channel to push this monologue to over 2 million views especially enjoyed the digs at Ron DeSantis. Colbert’s line that Ron DeSantis was like a kid still wearing his Halloween costume landed well with fans.
Jokes at the expense of Donald Trump, Jr. also earned praise from fans. A powdered nose joke about the ex-president’s son got thumbs up from fans who caught it. And Colbert’s line “you don’t need makeup, everyone knows you’re a clown” was the perfect sentiment for the story.
Hopefully, Colbert recovers quickly and can get back to The Late Show. December has a pretty high bar to clear when it comes to monologues.