Following the announcement that President Joe Biden will not be seeking re-election in the 2024 presidential race, The Late Show‘s Stephen Colbert has retired his Biden-style aviator sunglasses and his old-age jokes.
Colbert opened Monday’s (July 22) episode of the Late Show by praising Biden “for the selfless act of stepping aside from being the most powerful person in the world for the greater good. This act puts Joe Biden in league with history’s most selfless leaders: Roman general Cincinnatus, the father of our country, George Washington, and Kim Cattrall, who has stepped down as Samantha after Pelosi showed her the polls.”
The late-night host also pointed out the irony of Biden making his announcement on X (formerly Twitter), “the social media site owned by the world’s richest man, Elon Musk, who has pledged $45 million a month to a new super PAC backing Trump. I understand, he kind of had to. But it just gave Elon more clicks. It’d be like Greta Thunberg announcing her latest climate proposal on Gas Station TV.”
Colbert referred to Biden as “a great president” and detailed some of his accomplishments, such as “steering this country out of a horrific pandemic,” “saving countless lives by encouraging people to get vaccinated,” “reasserting America’s place in the world stage,” and “most inspiring of all, at no time was he Donald Trump. Inspiring.”
He then said it was time to retire his aviator sunglasses, which he said “did the hardest job of all. They made it seem like I had a Joe Biden impression.”
And that wasn’t all Colbert retired. He also said it was time to let go of his jokes about Biden being old.
“I am officially retiring all of my ‘Joe Biden is old’ jokes,” he stated. “They were starting to get tired anyway, just like Joe Biden. That was the last one, I swear! Now, I’m going to un-retire them to use on Donald Trump.”
Late Show/YouTube
With that, Colbert brought out a binder labeled “Joe Biden Old” and flipped it over to show it now read, “Donald Trump Old.”
Toward the end of his monologue, Colbert said that with Vice President Kamala Harris set to be the presumptive Democratic nominee, he has newfound hope.
“What is this strange feeling?” he said. “It’s like my blood is flowing again. For the first time in months, I don’t want to build a little pillow fort and crawl in there with a hoagie and a tub of frosting. Is this… is this excitement? Is this hope? Is there any way to physically embody this feeling?”
You can watch Colbert’s entire opening monologue above.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Weeknights, 11:35/10:35 c, CBS