So, apparently, there might be more of “Stephen Colbert,” the fictional wing-nut talk show host portrayed so winningly by Stephen Colbert during nine-plus years of “The Colbert Report” on Comedy Central. What else are we to make of a finale, Thursday night, in which Colbert knocked off the Grim Reaper to become immortal?
“I just killed Death,” he said. “Nothing can stop me now, other than this commercial break.”
And then came the big finale, a l-o-o-o-ong group sing-along to “We’ll Meet Again,” featuring too many celebrities from the Colbert universe to list. Some of them: James Franco, Neil DeGrasse Tyson, Big Bird, Barry Manilow, Bob Costas, Cyndi Lauper, Doris Kearns Goodwin, Jon Stewart, Jeff Tweedy, Michael Stipe, Henry Kissinger, Cookie Monster … et cetera. Did we mention Mark Wahlberg?
“My first impression of immortality feels OK,” Colbert said. “Kind of lonely. A little snacky. I can see why God went this way.”
It was a fitting farewell for a fellow always impressed with his own star power: eternal, groping with theological questions and enveloped in the warm, not particularly tuneful embrace of stars. And rather than the easy, perhaps expected Grim Reaper slaying of the “Colbert” character that the show seemed to have been hinting at during its final weeks, it actually leaves the door open for the character to return should, you know, we decide to invade Iraq again or some such, and he becomes newly necessary.
Whether Colbert — who is moving on to host CBS’s “Late Show,” beginning late summer 2015 — actually wants “Colbert” back is an open question. But it’s not stupid to leave options on the table. Bill O’Reilly won’t parody himself. Right?
Although certainly true to the reaching, often goofy spirit of the show, the last episode of this all-time great TV series had too many boxes to check off to be great itself. It was fun, and sad, to watch, but it won’t be what fans most remember. Instead, what will stick is a multi-episode wind-down that had seen him retire prominent bits and recall past glories. Colbert, for instance, had wondered whether, like Bob Newhart, he should wake up in bed next to Suzanne Pleshette or, like the crew on “St. Elsewhere,” show up in a snow globe.
But the last episode seemed most intent on shrugging at his own impact while taking the wind out of some of the myriad tributes that have been written in recent days.
“I did something much harder than change the world,” said Colbert. “Folks, I samed the world.”
In his final “The Word” segment, an essay with snarky text comments by his writers, Colbert pointed out that the show has been appearing on Comedy Central, not Influence Central. The goal, in other words, was mostly jokes, rather than satire. “Jonathan Not-So-Swift,” said one of the on-screen comments about him.
He is being entirely too modest about how sharp “The Colbert Report” has been. But Thursday was his forum.
Colbert, who trained at Chicago’s The Second City and apprenticed as a correspondent on “The Daily Show,” has been kissing off treasured characters, gloriously, in his final weeks. He made a sort of peace with bears, the “godless killing machines” frequently featured in his Threatdown segment highlighting what’s scaring America now. He brought on his Latin alter-ego, Esteban Colberto, for one last segment. Colberto revealed that he speaks perfect English and went to school in the States.
A final “Formidable Opponent” bit, in which right-leaning Colbert debates left-leaning Colbert, saw the one in the blue necktie win out. He mentioned that his Stephen Colbert’s AmeriCone Dream Ben & Jerry’s ice cream flavor would continue. “I freed you from the tyranny of having to fudge coat your own chunks of waffle cone,” he said. “That saves time, time you could spend with your family.”
He even ditched his gun, which had to be hard for a man of his deeply held beliefs.
Thursday, after slaying the Grim Reaper with his handgun, the host tossed the gun, known to Colbert as “Sweetness,” into his adoring crowd. A man there promptly (pretend) shot himself in the leg with it. Handguns, like satire, can be dangerous. They’re certainly worth keeping an eye on.
