Stephen Colbert fired back at Donald Trump on Wednesday night after the former president posted a heated rant about the late-night host on his Truth Social account.
The former president ranted on Tuesday night that he had “briefly watched” an interview by Colbert “on highly government subsidized PBS, and found it fascinating for only one reason—Why would they be wasting time and the public’s money on this complete and total loser?” Trump wrote, in part. “He is not funny, which he gets paid far too much to be, he is not wise, he is VERY BORING.”
The PBS NewsHour interview featured the late-night host and his wife, Evie, discussing their relationship and new cookbook.
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Colbert responded in his Wednesday monologue, telling Trump, “In the middle of a hotly contested presidential campaign, you took the time to hate-watch me on PBS? First of all, I’m flattered.”
He continued, “More importantly, you shouldn’t be hate-watching me on PBS. You should be hate-watching me on CBS! … Actually, wait a second. You’re 78. You’re out of the demo. Nobody cares if you watch.”
Colbert speculated that Trump’s “boring” insult was a response to a moment in Colbert’s interview where he was asked if he’d ever invite Trump onto his show. Colbert answered, “I had him on before, and he was kind of boring, so no.”
“[Trump’s] clearly upset because I called him boring,” Colbert explained. “And I called him boring because I knew it would upset him. Which it did, because he’s so predictable, which is ultimately what makes him kind of boring.”
Colbert addressed the final part of Trump’s post where he wrote, “CBS should terminate [Colbert’s] contract and pick almost anyone, right off the street, who would do better, and for FAR LESS MONEY—Or I could recommend someone, much more talented, and smarter, who would do it for FREE!”
“Well, OK, I disagree, but to be fair, I’m gonna give it a shot,” Colbert replied. “Let me just take a peek outside of Times Square and see if I can see if I can grab anybody.”
Colbert brought in an apparent Times Square Elmo to read the next cue card for him, although Elmo soon took off his head and revealed talk show host Andy Cohen underneath. To massive applause, Cohen announced the guests for the episode and led the show into its first commercial break.
