Stephen Colbert hijacks another CBS show's Times Square billboard to save a small business

An underrated pleasure of today’s late-night landscape is watching hosts use their valuable TV time to do a little good. After toiling away to somehow churn this world’s ongoing stream of bleak news into frothy comedy, it’s no doubt restorative for someone like John Oliver to, say, forgive $15 million in actual people’s medical debts, or raise money for AIDS charities and LGBTQI rights on the back of noted anti-gay bigot Mike Pence’s pet bunny.

But sometimes, a late-night host just wants to help save one small, Black-owned business from pandemic-related hardship and the additional plague of small business-choking red tape. That’s been Stephen Colbert’s jam for a while now, as his #ColbertSmallBizBump recurs on The Late Show to throw all the famous comedian’s comedy clout (and celebrity pals) behind a local business in need.

Back in November, Colbert highlighted New Hope, Minnesota’s Redmon’s Popcorn, started by former barber Zack Redmon out of the trunk of his car when his former profession suffered from nobody wanting a stranger to get very, very close to them during a pandemic. After Colbert learned of Redmon’s popped-corn wares, including flavors such as cheese pizza, banana pudding, and hot BBQ, the host initially enlisted Nick Offerman to perform voice-over for a lavishly produced commercial for Redmon’s fledgeling enterprise. (And, judging by Offerman’s on-mic crunching, earning Redmon one more customer for life.)

But, bureaucracy being what it is, and this world never giving any small, good thing a fair shake, Redmon’s recently ran into trouble. In that the ensuing Colbert bump drew the wrath of local Minnesota officials, who saw the lines of people enjoying some fresh, eccentrically flavored popcorn and shut Redmon down for not having a commercial kitchen in his store. Well, Colbert, seeing the trouble he’d caused by [checks notes] helping an entrepreneur achieve his dreams, stepped in once more on Wednesday by spending some more of his network’s money to pre-empt advertising for another CBS show.

Noting that, in the sort of feel-good story we all could use these days, Redmon’s Popcorn has resolved that issue and reopened for crunchy, salty, delicious business, Colbert celebrated in the only way he knew how. That’s by hijacking the Times Square electronic billboard advertising CBS’ new hit show that your mom really likes, Ghosts. Assuring his audience that the clip he was about to show was, indeed, real, Colbert rolled on the Ghosts billboard briefly blinking out to be interrupted with a towering electronic ad for Redmon’s Popcorn, advising hungry New Yorkers that yummy, handmade popcorn treats lie a mere 1,207 miles thataway.