Stephen Colbert turned the end of his CBS run into a full-circle return to Michigan public-access TV, hosting Friday night’s episode of “Only in Monroe” in Monroe, Mich., after signing off from “The Late Show” on Thursday. In his final CBS monologue, Colbert joked that his next stop would likely be public-access television in Michigan — a line that became reality less than 24 hours later. The Monroe episode aired opposite the usual “Late Show” time slot and leaned into the same self-aware comedy, with Colbert poking fun at the show’s tiny scale, its lack of sponsors, and the small-town setting.
“Only in Monroe” is a local program covering events in Monroe, a city of about 20,000 people roughly 40 miles southwest of Detroit. Colbert joked early on that it had been “an excruciating 23 hours” since he was last on TV and said he was grateful to be back on Monroe Community Media before, as he quipped, they too were acquired by Paramount. The remark referenced the cancellation of “The Late Show” and Paramount’s ownership transition to Skydance.
The hourlong episode followed a familiar talk-show structure, with Colbert opening with a monologue before moving into interviews and bits. The show’s regular hosts, Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson, also known as Miss America 1988, joined him as guests. Colbert also welcomed several Michigan-connected figures, including Jack White, who served as musical director and performed using a boombox and reel-to-reel player; Byron Allen, who now occupies Colbert’s former time slot with “Comics Unleashed”; and rapper Eminem. Actor Steve Buscemi also made a cameo in a playful local-ad spot for Buscemi’s Pizza & Subs, which he described as a public service announcement.
Throughout the broadcast, Colbert took part in a series of local-themed segments, including drinking shots of a locally distilled alcohol, tasting Monroe-style chili dogs and helping make peanut butter, potato chip and barbecue sauce sandwiches with actor Jeff Daniels, who lives in Michigan. Some of the food segment humor came from the show’s loose, small-production feel, including a joke that the program mixed up which hot dog came from which restaurant.
Colbert’s appearance was also a callback to his earlier 2015 guest host stint on “Only in Monroe,” which took place just months before he succeeded David Letterman on “The Late Show.” At the time, he interviewed the Monroe hosts and welcomed Eminem, introducing him as a local Michigander making a name for himself in music. Colbert referenced that earlier visit during his CBS farewell, noting the audience had been just a dozen people and suggesting that, in modern show business, that might be his next destination.
The episode ended with a theatrical sign-off: Colbert and his guests smashed the set with hammers and then set it on fire in a dumpster outside, closing out the one-night-only return with a joke about destruction, reinvention and the end of an era.
