Stephen Colbert spoofs Coldplay concert 'Kiss Cam' with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Fallon
Colbert returned to "The Late Show" on Monday, July 21, for the first time since announcing that CBS has canceled his late-night program. After addressing the network's decision in his monologue, the comedian introduced performers Lin-Manuel Miranda and "Weird Al" Yankovic to sing a song that would "cheer up" the audience.
The duo jumped into the Coldplay song "Viva la Vida" as Miranda directed the show's camera operators to scan the audience – in a move mimicking the viral jumbotron reveal of the embracing Astronomer couple at the July 18 Coldplay concert.
"The Late Show" jumbotron "couples" on display featured CNN's Anderson Cooper and Bravo's Andy Cohen; fellow late night hosts Jimmy Fallon and Seth Meyers; "Happy Gilmore 2" stars Adam Sandler and Christopher McDonald as well as a middle-finger-waving John Oliver of HBO's "Last Week Tonight" with Jon Stewart of "The Daily Show."
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The final couple was a cartoon President Donald Trump hugging a Paramount logo. Colbert then interrupted Yankovic and Miranda to tell them, "I just got this note from corporate. Your song has been canceled. It says here, 'This is a purely financial decision.'"
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"Tell me this has nothing to do with who we just put a spotlight on," Miranda protested. But Colbert insisted, "This is out of my hands."
The end of the bit was a reference to claims that CBS canceled "The Late Show" to appease Trump. The network's parent company, Paramount Global, has maintained the move was "purely a financial decision against a challenging backdrop in late night," which was not "related in any way to the show's performance, content or other matters happening at Paramount."
Earlier in the July 21 episode of the "Late Show," Colbert thanked everyone who has reached out to offer their support following the cancellation news. "Over the weekend, it sunk in that they're killing off our show, but they made one mistake: They left me alive," he quipped.
But Colbert reassured his audience that his show's cancellation is not a "sign of something truly dire," telling viewers, "We here at the 'Late Show' never saw our job as changing anything other than how you felt at the end of the day, which I think is a worthy goal."
Contributing: KiMi Robinson, Brendan Morrow
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ABOUT THE AUTHOR Joe Berkowitz is a contributing writer for Fast Company, where he explores all things digital culture, especially how we live, work, and do business in a rapidly changing information environment. His coverage runs the gamut from profiles of interesting businesses and creators, the streaming wars, social media, as well as the objects and technology that define our lives. More
