Stephen Colbert Reveals the Hidden Way He Counted Down the Trump Presidency on His Show

The host had a subtle countdown going on "The Late Show" for four years

stephen colbert
Stephen Colbert on December 07, 2019 in Newark, New Jersey. (Photo by Bennett Raglin/Getty Images for Montclair Film )
Getty Images for Montclair Film

Many people have been counting down the days to today, when Donald Trump will officially leave office, but on The Late Show last night, host Stephen Colbert revealed that he has subtly been doing that on his show every night for the past four years.

Colbert revealed that when the late-night show was still being taped in the Ed Sullivan Theater pre-pandemic, the number of days left in Trump’s term was projected in lights onto the theater’s dome every night. “We counted it down every night for four long painful years,” he said. “Tonight, the number on the dome has counted down to one.”

To celebrate, he showed footage of the lights in the theater and donned some Biden-style aviators and lip-synced a bit of “Hit the Road, Jack.”

“Throughout all of the craziness and threats to everything we hold sacred, there was one hero who kept our country together,” he continued in his monologue. “And that’s you. The American people. For all of his dangerous assaults on democracy, in the end democracy kicked his ass all the way back to Florida. And in this case, I for one will never be sick of winning.”

Colbert also used his monologue to poke fun at Trump’s farewell 21-gun salute and the latest arrests related to the storming of the Capitol. You can watch the full segment below.

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