Yes, it’s still free to subscribe to this nearly daily newsletter! Greg Mitchell is the author of fourteen books and director of five films for PBS since 2022. In a previous life, he was a longtime editor at the legendary Crawdaddy.
In truth, Stephen’s final show last night was a rather weak affair, with so-so writing and jokes, silly celebrity cameos (did we really have to meet Paul Rudd again?), and a kind of routine interview with closing guest Paul McCartney, who had just appeared on “SNL.” But the bittersweet and then fun musical conclusion saved it, with Jon Batiste and Elvis Costello joining Stephen and bandleader Cato for a song, “Jump Up,” off Elvis’s 1977 demo, and then all joining in Paul doing “Hello, Goodbye,” on the stage where the Beatles had their debut in USA, at the Ed Sullivan theater. I’m sure young Colbert back in S. Carolina never imagined. So farewell to the king!
This is how they kicked off the show:
….and the grand musical climax:
Barry Blitt:
![May be an image of skydiving, helicopter, seaplane and text that says 'وامم] ክብርም ON ONWARD AND UPWARD ONWARDANDUPWARD UP'](https://substackcdn.com/image/fetch/$s_!K4-Q!,f_auto,q_auto:good,fl_progressive:steep/https%3A%2F%2Fsubstack-post-media.s3.amazonaws.com%2Fpublic%2Fimages%2F1e3695f6-d1f3-4c21-839a-a08902a6c4ca_1596x1906.jpeg "May be an image of skydiving, helicopter, seaplane and text that says 'وامم] ክብርም ON ONWARD AND UPWARD ONWARDANDUPWARD UP'")
The Dixie Chicks, now the Chicks, have always been outspoken, but now lead singer Natalie Maines in a new Instagram post, writes, “Our democracy is disappearing right before our eyes. This fugly slut is using your gas money to pay the insurrectionists. But don’t worry about it. I’m sure posting selfies will fix everything. My last post that called him a fugly slut got removed. We’ll see how long this one lasts. Repost and help this message live. Named 1M times in the #epsteinfiles.” Maines also included more hashtags: #democracy, #freespeech and, #fuglyslut.
New NY Times/Siena survey: “Nearly three-quarters of Democratic supporters now oppose military aid to Israel, up from 45 percent three years ago. And nearly half of Democratic backers said the party was too supportive of Israel.”
Music Pick
Was surprised to learn the other night, when Stephen took his own Colbert Questionaire, that his favorite musical piece was Glenn Gould’s version of a Mendelssonn classic. So here it is, and it’s under 3 minutes:
From Tune to Toons
Telnaes:
Anderson:
Luckovich:
de Adder:
Bramhall:
Brodner:
Photo Finish
“Iris After the Rain,” at Stone Barns yesterday.
Late Night HOF gets another member. Colbert helped us through Dumpty1, covid and some of Dumpty2. Now it's up to Jimmy K to carry the mantle. Many thanks and best wishes to Steven and crew.
TY for sharing the musical finale of The Late Show, a "grand" exit indeed 🎶 🥲 Steve Colbert is a class act~ we haven't seen the last of him 🫡 ❣️
JOY = Resistance 🎉