Stephen Colbert addressed the recent arrests of several members of his staff, including crew and production members, who were charged with unauthorized entry in the U.S. Capitol last week.
“Here’s what happened. Last week, I heard from my old colleague Triumph the Insult Comic Dog. Triumph offered to go to D.C. and interview some Congress people to highlight the Jan. 6 hearings. I said, ‘Sure, if you can get anyone to agree to talk to you, because–and please don’t take this as an insult–you’re a puppet.'”
Colbert confirmed that Democratic and Republican members of Congress agreed to talk to Triumph and that he and the crew for the Late Show spent two days shooting footage at offices across the street from the Capitol building.
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Colbert confirmed that his crew went through security clearances and were invited into the offices o the Congresspeople they were interviewing.
At the end of their second day, Capitol Police detained the crew. Colbert stated that it wasn’t “surprising” and that “the Capitol Police are much more cautious than they were, say, 18 months ago, and for a very good reason. If you don’t know what that reason is, I know what news network you watch.”
Stephen Colbert claimed that the interaction was “very professional” and “very calm” and that the crew was “detained, processed, and released–a very unpleasant experience for my staff, a lot of paper for the Capitol Police, but a very simple story.”
He went on then to take a jab at Tucker Carlson’s comments, saying that “a couple of TV people started claiming my puppet squad had, ‘committed insurrection’ at the U.S. building.”
He stated that his crew was not in the Capitol building and that the actions of his crew were not an insurrection, rather “first-degree puppetry. This was hijinks with an intent to goof. Misappropriation of an old Conan bit.”
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Colbert called Carlson’s comments “predictable” and that “our puppet was just a puppet doing puppet stuff. And sad to say, so much has changed in Washington that the Capitol Police do have to stay on high alert all the time, because of the attack on January 6th. And as the hearings prove more clearly every day, the blame for that actual insurrection all goes to Putin’s puppet.”
No confirmation was made regarding if the piece would air on the Late Show.
