The Republican National Convention wrapped up last night with Donald Trump taking the stage to accept his party’s nomination for president, and in concert with the RNC coverage, Late Show with Stephen Colbert continued its series of live shows this week with a very special twist. Friend and Late Show executive producer Jon Stewart appeared on the show a couple of nights ago in a bit in which he finally learns that Trump landed the nomination, but last night, for the first time in a year, Stewart took over Colbert’s desk and offered his reaction to the RNC in classic fashion.
Fans of The Daily Show will know that Trump was a consistent punching bag for Stewart, but he left the Comedy Central series just as Trump had announced his intention to run for president. So we’ve been waiting a long while for Stewart to weigh in on just how far Trump has gone, and while it took a year, it turns out it was well worth it.
Stewart took the desk complete with hand-me-down jacket and clip-on tie and proceeded to deliver a 10-minute segment in the vein of his best Daily Show pieces, capped off with a passionate and pointed climax that saw Stewart dropping a network TV “no-no word” while live on air.
In the wake of his Daily Show exit, Stewart joined former colleague John Oliver at HBO with a deal that’s supposed to see him creating content for the internet and HBO Go, but as of yet nothing has materialized. No doubt Stewart has been invested in helping steer Colbert’s rocky transition to primetime late night host, but when he stepped back in front of the camera last night it was almost as if he never left.
It’s unclear if Stewart might keep recurring with regular segments or if this was a one-time deal—perhaps he’ll at least come back to comment on the Democratic National Convention next week. But regardless, this segment came not a moment too soon. Watch below.
