Biden and Colbert
by Bob Schwartz
Whatever your politics, it was TV history last night on The Late Show. Joe Biden and Stephen Colbert talking, just two great guys leaning in and getting real, while millions watched, and many teared up.
It starts with Colbert. The question has been whether and how he would progress from being a character on The Colbert Report to a different character that is more himself. There was that moment on the final Daily Show when Colbert exposed his most sincere and unironic thanks to Jon Stewart, the man who gave him his chance.
But last night’s Late Show interview skipped all the midpoints of developing a Colbert talk show persona to transcending any idea of what a late-night host might be. Beyond showing himself as a man of faith, Colbert served almost as a therapist and priest. He didn’t stay away from the pain. He compassionately went right for it, not for spectacle, but for the healing truth, and to reveal the depths of Biden’s quandary.
Reflecting their shared history of family tragedy, it was like a reunion of two old souls. On top of that, Colbert wore not only his faith but his politics on his sleeve, something that just isn’t done in his position. It was clear that he was urging Biden to run not because it was a good idea, but because Colbert and the Nation needed him.
It doesn’t take much to get Biden to speak from his soul. Hello will usually do. But Colbert brought out an extra dimension of that. Where certain candidates now running make us cringe, Biden made me and plenty of others cry. Where certain candidates make us want to run the other direction, listening to Joe just made me want to be a better person.
In the moment, it didn’t matter that Colbert was in only the third show of his widely-covered new TV venture. Or that Biden was in the final weeks of the will-he-or-won’t-he candidacy drama. It just was what it was, and what it was was good and human, so humbly and nobly human. Something we don’t see much on TV. Or in politics.
Bob Schwartz 
I’m so glad to read that Colbert’s new show is getting better! Sometimes shows take a few episodes to find their voice. I had put the premiere episode on the DVR, but kept scrolling through rapidly because it didn’t have enough depth or bite. It was silly enough, but there were misfires like the National Anthem edits that kept changing the key of the song, and the demon head running joke wasn’t a fresh take on product placement.
Thanks for the comment. Yes, I watched the first show, and was disappointed. I decided not to watch again for a while. But the Biden show made me realize and remember something. It takes time for artists to work out their creations (and Colbert is an artist). By playing, not by thinking or planning. It doesn’t matter whether he had nine months or nine weeks or nine days to prepare. It will be formed over time. By playing every night. There’s no telling whether it will be as unique and satisfying as The Report was. But I now am confident that he will at least make it something special, of his own.