A day after President Joe Biden dropped out of the 2024 presidential race, the host of “The Late Show with Stephen Colbert” spent part of his opening monologue Monday night listing Biden’s accomplishments in office.
“I think he’s been a great president,” Colbert told his audience. “He led this country out of a terrible pandemic. He saved countless lives by getting people vaccinated. He got the economy back on track. He rallied our allies, he affirmed America’s place on the world stage, and most inspiring of all, he was never Donald Trump. He’s inspiring.”
Colbert said he would miss Biden — noting that “on that same show that was there on September 10th, 2015, I encouraged then-Vice President Biden to run. He ignored me for five years, and then he did it!”
Colbert then announced that he had retired his Biden-style aviator sunglasses, which would now sit on the back of his ensemble, “in a place of honor next to Captain America's shield.”
“These pilots did the hardest job ever. They made me feel like Joe Biden,” the broadcaster added.
Colbert noted that he had no impression of Vice President Kamala Harris — who will now serve as the presumptive Democratic presidential nominee. So instead, he donned a new pair of sunglasses. “Hello everyone, I’m Kamala Harris,” he said in a sarcastic, Biden-like impression. “I’ll be your new president, Jack!” “We’re still working on that.”
And those pilots weren't the only thing Colbert joked he'd take down.
“I’m officially going to stop using all my old Joe Biden jokes,” he said. “They’re getting old anyway. Just like Joe Biden. That was the last joke, I swear! Now, I’m going to stop using them and use them on Donald Trump.” He then took out a folder that said “Joe Biden is old” and flipped it over to read “Donald Trump is old.”
Colbert's Monday night episode (11:35 p.m. ET on CBS) also features guest actor Keanu Reeves, who joins Colbert on the floor for a “Big Questions with Bigger Stars” segment. Musician Charles Wesley Goodwin also performs in the episode.
Oh, and Colbert is falling into Charli XCX's shoes, just as Harris' campaign has also embraced being part of Charli XCX's “naughty summer”:
Watch this portion of Colbert's monologue here, courtesy of CBS/The Late Show:
