On the final night of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” the host harked back to a stunt he did just prior to that show going on the air and said, “Technically our first show in July of 2015 was from a public access station in Monroe, Michigan for an audience of 12 people. Show business being what it is these days, that’s probably where you’ll see me next.”
Few would have taken that gag for an actual tune-in, but that is exactly where Stephen Colbert turned up next, as 24 hours later, he returned to the airwaves in Michigan — hosting, without any serious prior warning, an hour’s worth of public-access TV. It turned out to be, well, at least one-fourth as star-studded as what he’d done the night before, and was arguably considerably more hilarious, in its hyper-minimalist fashion.
Colbert was joined for the low-budget hour by a couple of famous Michigan residents: musical director Jack White, who provided bumper music courtesy of a boombox and reel-to-reel machine, and guest Jeff Daniels. Eminem and Steve Buscemi also turned up in filmed cameos. And Colbert put in a FaceTime call to his successor in the CBS late-night slot, Byron Allen.
“Since I was last here in Monroe, Michigan, I spent 11 years as the primary host of ‘The Late Show with Stephen Colbert‘ on CBS, which came to an end last night,” he said at the beginning of the 11:35 p.m. local broadcast Friday. “It’s been an excruciating 23 hours without being on TV, so I am grateful to be able to be here on Monroe Community Media before they also get acquired by Paramount.”
Word of the stunt only began to dribble out Saturday morning, as the Latenighter site reported on the gambit and posted video of the full hour on YouTube.
While White and Daniels were in the studio in Michigan with Colbert, Buscemi showed up in a commercial pitching a Monroe eating establishment that happens to be named Buscemi’s Pizza.
Eminem, meanwhile, showed up in a very brief cameo near the end, when Colbert took everyone on hand outside to a dumpster and said that they were about to burn up the remains of the no-longer-used “Only in Monroe” set, but needed permission from a fire marshall. “Marshall, are you OK if we light this up?” he asked. “Stephen, Marshall, here,” said Eminem, aka Marshall Mathers, appearing on video. “Marshall, are you okay if we light this up? Steven Marshall, here. You are absolutely clear to burn that mother down, bro.”
Colbert had indeed taken over as guest host of “Only in Monroe” for an hour back in 2015 right before beginning his CBS hosting stint. He brought back the two women who were the regular hosts of that show, Michelle Baumann and a former Miss America, Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson (who said she had shed some of those names in the intervening 11 years, without specifying which).
Colbert talked with the two women about how they dealt with Baumann’s harrowing bout with thyroid cancer, from which she is now in remission. But to keep it a little on the lighter side, they discussed it while taking turns taking hits of helium. (Colbert also serenaded White with a good portion of “Fell in Love With a Girl” while under the influence of that same helium.)
Calling Allen on FaceTime, Colbert suggested to the new king of CBS late-night that he should let the two Michigan women come in to New York and guest-host “Comics Unleashed.”
“Hey man, we’re on right now here in Monroe at 11:35 at night,” Colbert told Allen, whose face was barely visible on the phone. “So we’re opposite you right now. I hate to do that, but I’m coming for you, brother. I can’t give up. I’m coming for you. Michigan public access is coming for you. No free rides, Byron Allen. You’ve got to earn this. I had to go up against the Jimmies. You’ve got to go against Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson and Jack White, our musical director.”
Colbert then expressed what sounded like sincere appreciation to Allen. “Anyway, Byron, have a great show,” he said. “You’re the best, buddy. Thanks for picking up… Lovely fellow, Byron Allen. He meant that, by the way.,” he added, turning to the ladies. “You could host that show.”
White’s initial job in the hour was to act as a deadpan, barely-interested-looking foil to Colbert. “You know, you got a lot of equipment over there. You left your wax cylinders at home?” quipped Colbert. “Yeah,” responded White, looking unamused. But later in the show, on top of cuing up musical segues like “96 Tears,” the rocker came over to join Colbert for an in-depth discussion of a long-lasting competition between local Monroe chili dog establishments, and they both bit into either end of one of the dogs, “Lady and the Tramp”-style.
Jack White and Stephen Colbert share a chili dog on Michigan public access TV
YouTube
White also got involved in a discussion Colbert was having with the two women about alleged Big Foot sightings in the area. “You know, Stephen, in order for the Bigfoot to exist… in order for them to keep propagating, there has to be a minimum of 150 of them… Any lesser than that, the scientists feel that it’s going to go extinct.” Colbert seemed impressed by White’s Yeti knowledge, and more so when the rocker added to the folklore discussion by noting, “There’s a Wampas kitty in some parts of Michigan as well.”
Colbert and Daniels — who lives in nearby Chelsea, Michigan — discussed how, technically, the actor was the very first guest for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,” although not the first one seen on the air. Daniels had been asked to come in and do a test interview with the fledgling host, and the taping went well enough that they used it a few nights into being on the air, the pair recalled.
Jeff Daniels and Stephen Colbert on Michigan public access TV
YouTube
Buscemi’s “commercial” amounted to a long disclaimer: “I am here to let you know that I am in no way associated with Buscemi’s Pizza and Subs in Monroe, Michigan. I am not the owner. I don’t know the owners and they are definitely not paying me for this because this is not a commercial. It’s a public service announcement alerting people to the fact that I don’t know anything about Buscemi’s Pizza. Never been there. I couldn’t tell you if it’s true when they claim to have the best pizza in town and flavor-packed subs at affordable prices. No idea. All I know is Buscemi’s exists. I exist. We have the same name. And that’s where any connection ends. But if you’re in Monroe, Michigan, and you want pizza from a place with my name that has nothing to do with me, it’s available at 1386 North Monroe Street. I’ve got nothing to do with it.”
Colbert had gone non-political for the jokes on his final night on CBS, and he continued that in Monroe, going decidedly local with the humor, along the parochial lines of: “Holy Ghost Lutheran Church and School has won this year’s title for best fish fry in Monroe County. As always, worst fish fry went to Dirty Dan’s Goldfish Electric Chair.”
There were few jibes at CBS, either, although he did say, “Viewers outside the greater Monroe area are able to view Monroe Community Media thanks to something known as streaming, which I promised not to learn about while I was on CBS. And evidently CBS also decided not to learn about it.”
At the close, Colbert noted that the public access producers “have also informed me, and this is true, that since they are no longer using this set, it would actually be helpful for me to destroy it, which is pretty great news because right now, for no particular reason, I would very much like to break something.” White joined the host in the set-smashing and eventual controlled burn.
It wasn’t revealed when Colbert, White and Daniels and company went to Michigan to do the taping, although it was unlikely to have actually been Friday, since the host had said he had plans to visit family following his final night in the Ed Sullivan Theater.
The earliest stretch of Colbert’s hour of public access had his comedy met with a spooky silence, although things can be heard loosening up considerably in the studio after he tells the crew, “You look like you’re suppressing laughter. Like, that sound you just made was like, ‘I don’t want to make any laugh sounds while he’s telling jokes.’ You could just laugh.’ It’s really okay.” And from there, titters occasionally came out as the unleashed host moved on to one of the highest forms of comedy, muskrat humor.
