The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has returned from its late-summer hiatus and didn't waste a second to fire on all cylinders. Between Colbert having his pal and fellow late-night host John Oliver on the show to jab the royal family and commenting on the latest headlines surrounding President Donald Trump, Colbert settled back into his show with hilariously timely jokes.
During his monologue on Sept. 3, Colbert dove into the president's most recent decisions, including his announcement that he will now host the upcoming Kennedy Center Honors ceremony, which will take place on Dec. 7, 2025. Trump taking over the prestigious ceremony has been met with a lot of criticism, and Colbert has added his two sense on the matter with a sense of humor.
Stephen Colbert has strong words for President Trump's "hosting gig"
"Another sign that Trump has gone full autocrat, he recently made himself the chair of the Kennedy Center and then he recently, this is important though, as chair, found the perfect host for this year's Kennedy Center Honors: himself," Colbert shared to immediate boos from the audience.
"You're the most powerful man on Earth. What are you doing? You're the most powerful man, and all you want is a hosting gig? Those don't last as long as they used to, buddy!" He pointed to himself when delivering the punchline, an obvious nod to the Paramount-Skydance merger resulting in the cancellation of his show. Naturally, the audience erupted in laughter and applause.
Colbert continued to knock the president for his decision to host the ceremony, poking fun at Trump saying that he didn't want to serve as hosting but he was "begged," and then showed the clip of Trump on Aug. 13 sharing how his job as host came to be. Apparently, he was told that he would deliver "high ratings" as the president, which is something he's been known to care about.
Colbert defends Chicago after Trump's "hellhole" comments
Much of Colbert's 12-minute monologue was devoted to joking about and skewering what the president has been up to lately. Before launching into his take on the Kennedy Center Honors situation, Colbert stated that Trump made a "hard right onto the fascism freeway" with his plan to deploy National Guard troops in Chicago (another part that earned loud boos).
During a press conference, Trump called the city a "hellhole" and in a follow-up social media post, he called Chicago the "worst and most dangerous city in the World, by far" and "the murder capital of the world." But Colbert debunked that statement with examples of cities with higher crime rates and came to Chicago's defense with the following pointed message: "Two words: F-ck you."
Even though he was born in Washington D.C. and wasn't raised in Chicago, the city still holds special importances to him. Colbert graduated from Northwestern University and began his comedy career performing at ImprovOlympic. In honor of Chicago, Colbert took a shot of Malört.
Colbert even touched on the rumors about the president's health that took over social media last week, but his dig about the hosting gig might be the most biting thing he had to say. Now that Colbert's show has an end date set for next year, the gloves are clearly off and he's going to go out swinging while he still can. Clearly, hosting gigs are easy to come by. He'll get another one!
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS and streams on Paramount+.