List of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert sketches

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The following is a list of sketches which debuted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert on CBS.^[1]

Recurring solo sketches

Current

• Cold Open: An opening sketch, often featuring an actual news story, but with fake network logos (often parodying CNN, Fox News, MSNBC, ABC News, C-SPAN, or PBS NewsHour), followed by a comic segment parodying the story. Sometimes the sketch is a song parody.
• Covetton House: Covetton House is Colbert's take on celebrity luxury brands, especially Gwyneth Paltrow's Goop. Each sketch typically features everyday products with fancy names and jacked-up prices. Some items are available for sale at Goop's website, with all proceeds going to charity.
• Cyborgasm: Colbert shares the latest news about technology, often mocking the most absurd new products.
• First Drafts: Colbert invites a member of the audience up to read holiday/special event cards and their "first drafts", which poke fun at the event in question. Since the COVID-19 pandemic, Colbert's wife Evelyn McGee took the place of the audience member.
• Kids' Questions: Colbert answers video questions submitted by children. The sketch typically begins and ends with Colbert complaining about the title. (The sketch has had numerous titles, including Stephen Takes Your Kids, Stephen's Re-Education Camp, Stephen Colbert Is Watching Your Children, Stephen Doesn't Care About Your Kids, Stephen Colbert Is Short And Punchy. and Stephen Colbert Talks Down to Children.)
• Meanwhile: Colbert jokes about lesser-known and funny news, such as
  portmanteau
  of quarantine and meanwhile.
• Seditionist Round Up Roundup: Colbert details the latest arrests of rioters from the
  2021 storming of the United States Capitol
  . Segment opens with a cow named Bessie making cow-themed puns about the rioters.
• Space News: A segment of the opening monologue telling jokes related to outer space.
• The Sound of Science:

Former

• America: Endgame: Stephen covers the 2020 Democratic and Republican National Conventions. The title and intro are a parody of Avengers: Endgame, with Democrats and Republicans as Marvel superheroes and supervillains (particularly Donald Trump as Thanos), respectively.
• Bedtime Stories: On occasion when Colbert has an author on the show, he ends the episode by asking the author to read him a bedtime story. Authors who performed the sketch with Colbert include Jonathan Franzen and John Irving.
• The Big Furry Hat: Colbert dons a giant hat that comes down from the ceiling and makes a series of humorous proclamations that people must follow (e.g., "Actor Paul Rudd must begin aging like the rest of us"). On November 13, 2015, John Cleese joined him wearing a bigger and furrier hat.^[1]
• Brain Fight With Tuck Buckford: During the child custody trial of
  conspiracy theories, including certain personal aspects of Jones' life based on testimonies from the court trial.^[2]
• Cargo Unchained: A monologue segment discussing the recent shortages of worldwide consumer products, named after the film Django Unchained.
• Cartoon Donald Trump: In the March 30, 2016 episode, Colbert declared that based on his behavior in the
  presidential debates and town halls, Donald Trump had become a "cartoonish version of himself". In response, Colbert interviewed a "slightly less cartoonish" version of Trump—an animated caricature of him portrayed with a childish demeanor.^[3][4] The character was designed by Tim Luecke, voiced by Brian Stack, and is controlled using Adobe Character Animator—which allows Colbert to interact with the character in real-time. Late Show tested the technology with a character of Colbert's "Irish ancestor" (which was intended for, but cut from a St. Patrick's Day episode), and a sketch involving a cartoon bluebird who supported Bernie Sanders (in reference to a Sanders rally in Portland, Oregon where a bird landed on his podium).^[5][6][7] After Bill Clinton stated in his 2016 Democratic National Convention speech that the Republicans had created a "cartoon" version of her, Colbert introduced Cartoon Hillary Clinton.^[8][9] Both Cartoon Trump and Cartoon Clinton have made appearances as recurring characters in later episodes, and Cartoon Trump was featured in an animated short during Colbert's election night special for Showtime.^[10][7] Showtime later announced that Colbert would executive produce a satirical animated series based on the sketches;^[11] the series, Our Cartoon President, premiered in January 2018.^[12]
• Chopper Talk/Chair Chat: In "Chopper Talk," Colbert discusses Trump's interviews in front of an operating Marine One helicopter. The spinoff "Chair Chat" focuses on interviews where Trump is sitting down.
• Doin' It Donkey Style: Stephen covers 2020 Democratic candidates for President. The segment begins with two animated flag-colored donkeys saying a one-line summary of a Democratic policy position (like "equal pay").
• Don and the Giant Impeach: Stephen covers the
  storming of the United States Capitol on January 6, 2021.
• Fury Road to the White House 2020: Updates on the 2020 United States presidential election. The name and intro are a parody of Mad Max: Fury Road.
• Gaetz Gate: Updates on the controversies surrounding Florida Representative Matt Gaetz.
• Goin' Viral/Catch a Third Wave: Endless Bummer These segments provided updates on the COVID-19 pandemic. Originally titled "Goin' Viral," it was renamed "Catch a Third Wave" in the fall of 2020, and given an animated opening with a cartoon coronavirus on a surfboard.
• The Hungry for Power Games: In a parody of
  Trump administration such as Rex Tillerson and Scott Pruitt.^[14]
• The Late Show Figure-It-Out-a-Tron: In a parody of Glenn Beck's use of chalkboards, Colbert brings out a chalkboard with names of people implicated in an ongoing scandal written all over it. He then tries to figure out the links between these people by drawing lines connecting their names. These lines form a humorous and often crude drawing related to the scandal, such as a penis or swastika.
• Midnight Confessions: Colbert examines his conscience to his audience. He starts with a disclaimer that while the things that he confesses are not technically sins, he still feels guilty about them. Done from a fake confessional. Its popularity resulted in a book being written based on it.
• The Mono-Log: Colbert gives updates related to the 2020 appearance of an unidentified monolith in the Utah desert and other monoliths around the world
• Piano 1-0-Fun! with Jon Batiste: Jon Batiste hosts absurd instructional videos.
• Real News Tonight: A parody of television newscasts, anchored by "Jim Anchorton" (John Thibodeaux) and "Jill Newslady" (Jen Spyra), that consists entirely of overly-positive fake stories designed to praise Donald Trump.
  Orlando, interviewing supporters for a segment that aired on the June 20 episode. Their press credentials had been revoked at the last minute, but they still managed to make it inside the event by registering online (a process which also exposed exaggerated claims surrounding the attendance of the rally).^[18][19]
• The Road From The White House: Stephen covers
  aerosol spray bottles
  .
• Romansplaining with Stephen Colbert: A segment similar to "Meanwhile", focusing on stories dealing with relationships and romance. The title is a
  portmanteau of "romance" and "mansplaining
  ".
• Slams: Colbert will joke about a particular item in his monologue, do a dance (to an excerpt from the Deee-Lite hit "Groove Is in the Heart"), and then a stamp-like logo comes on-screen with the slam message and a deep voice reading it off.
• Stephen Talks with God: Colbert talks with God, as portrayed as an animated character projected on the ceiling of the Ed Sullivan Theater.^[20]
• The Vax-Scene: Updates on efforts to deliver the COVID-19 vaccine to as many people as possible. The segment begins with cartoon syringes singing parodies of famous musical numbers imploring viewers to get vaccinated.
• WERD: Colbert chooses a word or phrase as a theme for a rant on a topical subject or news item while humorous captions displayed in a sidebar either highlight or sarcastically undercut what he is saying. The segment is based on "
  The Wørd", a segment Colbert performed throughout the entire run of The Colbert Report. Colbert introduced The Wørd segment on The Late Show on July 18, 2016.^[21] During the July 27, 2016 episode, Colbert indirectly stated Comedy Central had objected to his use of elements from the Report on Late Show; subsequently, the segment has been done under the name "WERD".^[22]
• Wheel of News: Colbert spins a wheel with random topics of news to talk about. Based on
  Wheel of Fortune