We here at the A.V. Club have always been big fans of Stephen Colbert, as have many of our readers. But we’ve all know that there’s been something missing in Colbert’s (we thought) brilliant and hilarious career in political comedy. At least until tonight.
Congratulations, Stephen Colbert, on joining the illustrious company of those that Donald Trump has deemed “overrated” (Meryl Streep, the cast of Hamilton, former Presidents Obama and Clinton), “boring” (Penn Jillette, Samuel L. Jackson, also accused of being bad at golf), “stinks” (Alec Baldwin), “sad,” (Civil Rights Movement hero/Congressman John Lewis, Saturday Night Live), or, as in Colbert’s case, “a no-talent guy.” In a recent Time story, the leader of the free world and person whose Access Hollywood tape bragging about sexual assault prompted awkward “grab her by the pussy” conversations at a million bedtimes, pronounced, “There’s nothing funny about what he says. And what he says is filthy. And you have kids watching.”
Sure, Colbert has acknowledged that his “Trump as Putin’s cock-holster” joke could have used a little work, but his “filthy” antics have propelled Colbert to an extended late night ratings victory streak. Fortunately, the leader of the free world took credit for that, too, breathlessly bragging, “By the way, they were going to take him off television, then he started attacking me and he started doing better. But his show was dying. I’ve done his show. But when I did his show, which by the way was very highly rated. It was high—highest rating.” Well, as Colbert notes, all this free publicity should take care of that. #Briarpatch.