{"id":320239,"date":"2025-08-05T16:24:10","date_gmt":"2025-08-05T16:24:10","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320239\/"},"modified":"2025-08-05T16:24:10","modified_gmt":"2025-08-05T16:24:10","slug":"stephen-colbert-what-you-thought-you-knew-is-just-history-late-night-tv-roundup","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/320239\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert: \u2018What you thought you knew is just history\u2019 | Late-night TV roundup"},"content":{"rendered":"

Late-night hosts dig into Donald Trump<\/a>\u2019s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner and an unnerving story about radioactive wasps.<\/p>\n

Stephen Colbert<\/strong><\/p>\n

\u201cYou know something? No, you don\u2019t,\u201d said Stephen Colbert<\/a> on Monday\u2019s Late Show. \u201cBecause things cannot be known any more. What you thought you knew is just history.\u201d Especially history, as the Smithsonian removed Trump from the impeachment exhibit in the American history museum.<\/p>\n<\/p>\n

\u201cOh, now you care about what\u2019s in the American history museum!\u201d Colbert joked to loud boos from the crowd. \u201cWhere was that enthusiasm when dad worked so hard to plan the family trip to DC?\u201d<\/p>\n

The museum reportedly removed a label noting both of Trump\u2019s impeachments \u2013 for bribing Ukraine, and for his role in the January 6 riots \u2013 after pressure from a White House content review. \u201cThat kind of pressure explains why the Smithsonian exhibit of the 1960s now says that the Vietnam war was started by Jimmy Kimmel,\u201d Colbert joked.<\/p>\n

The exhibit now says that \u201conly three presidents have seriously faced removal\u201d, instead of four. \u201cCome on! If you\u2019re going to completely make up presidential history, make it fun,\u201d said Colbert.<\/p>\n

A new report from the Bureau of Labor Statistics also confirmed that Trump has overseen the worst period of US job growth since the pandemic. So naturally, Trump responded by firing the head of the Bureau of Labor Statistics. \u201cNo, you fool! Now there\u2019s one less job,\u201d Colbert joked. \u201cBut it makes sense \u2013 he fires anyone who gives him bad news.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cHere\u2019s the problem with this: having people in the government who know stuff is pretty important,\u201d Colbert added. \u201cIf Trump starts fudging the job numbers it could backfire, by eroding the trust of investors, companies and organizations.\u201d<\/p>\n

In other Trump news, the White House unveiled plans for a new $200m ballroom, with gold chandeliers and floor-to-ceiling windows. \u201cPresidents are allowed to do a little renovation, of course. The Obamas added a vegetable garden. Truman and Nixon both added bowling lanes, and Jimmy Carter famously added a sex dungeon,\u201d Colbert joked.<\/p>\n

But Trump has already paved over the historic rose garden with concrete, to make room for more seating. \u201cIt reminds me of the poem,\u201d Colbert laughed. \u201cRoses are red. Concrete is white. This place looks like shit now.\u201d<\/p>\n

Seth Meyers<\/strong><\/p>\n

And on Late Night, Seth Meyers<\/a> reacted to a report that a radioactive wasp nest<\/a> was found at a site in South Carolina that once made nuclear bomb material. The nest reportedly had nuclear contamination levels 10 times higher than what is allowed by regulations. \u201cI guess my bug spray is going to continue to not work,\u201d Meyers joked.<\/p>\n

\u201cI have so many questions,\u201d he continued. \u201cWhat do you mean 10 times higher than what\u2019s allowed? I wasn\u2019t aware there was a certain level of radiation that\u2019s allowed for wasps. Is there like a sweet spot level that is low enough not to kill us all but high enough that if a kid on a field trip gets bitten he might turn into a superhero?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cIf I\u2019ve spent too much time on this wasp story, it\u2019s because the rest of the news is shit and I\u2019m stalling,\u201d he added, moving to the next worse story: a product recall of High Noon vodka sodas mislabeled as Celsius Astro Vibe Sparkling Blue Razz energy drinks.<\/p>\n

\u201cIf you can\u2019t trust Celsius Astro Vibe Sparkling Blue Razz, who can you trust?\u201d Meyers quipped. \u201cBecause, you know, I care about what I put in my body. So when I throw back a Celsius Astro Vibe Sparkling Blue Razz, I want to know it has the stuff I care about. Like blue, and razz. Celsius Astro Vibe Sparkling Blue Razz might be what made the wasps radioactive?\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI think we should embrace this combo moving forward, because the two things I need living in these trying times are energy and to be a little bit drunk.\u201d<\/p>\n

Meyers also touched on the news that Trump fired the commissioner of the Bureau of Labor Statistics, after his report found that US jobs growth had basically ground to a halt. \u201cTrump doesn\u2019t know how to solve a problem. He only knows how to cover it up,\u201d Meyers said. \u201cAnd that\u2019s the hallmark of a corrupt autocracy. When the numbers are bad, just fire the people in charge of the numbers. If you\u2019re caught up in a scandal, dangle a pardon to get out of it.\u201d<\/p>\n

But \u201cthe problem is it\u2019s backfiring\u201d, he concluded. \u201cThese stories won\u2019t go away. That\u2019s why Trump always looks like a guy who\u2019s been stung by a thousand radioactive wasps.\u201d<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Late-night hosts dig into Donald Trump\u2019s firing of the Bureau of Labor Statistics commissioner and an unnerving story…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":320240,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[3937],"tags":[77,382,16,15],"class_list":{"0":"post-320239","1":"post","2":"type-post","3":"status-publish","4":"format-standard","5":"has-post-thumbnail","7":"category-tv","8":"tag-entertainment","9":"tag-tv","10":"tag-uk","11":"tag-united-kingdom"},"share_on_mastodon":{"url":"https:\/\/pubeurope.com\/@uk\/114977090299775937","error":""},"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320239","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=320239"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/320239\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/320240"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=320239"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=320239"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.europesays.com\/uk\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=320239"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}