On Tuesday's Late Show, Stephen Colbert unveiled a new emoji approved by the Unicode Consortium, the global emoji gatekeepers. This one, he said happily, they are calling the "Colbert emoji," with an arched eyebrow and straight smile conveying "skepticism, accompanied by the concepts of disapproval and (mild) surprise." Colbert did a pretty convincing recreation of the emoji with his own face, if he did say so himself: "It's an uncanny resemblance. That's me when I have jaundice."
The person who submitted the emoji for approval had to jump through a lot of hoops, though. "It's such a Byzantine process, we might not see my emoji... until 2017," Colbert said, to boos from the audience. "It's fine. I'm sure we won't need an emoji that means skepticism and disappointment during this election year." But then he cheered up. "My own emoji!" he said. "You can't buy this kind of publicity, and for once, I didn't." He also demonstrated some other facial expressions the Unicode Consortium was free to use. They're all pretty good, but the one that will haunt your nightmares is "elf exposing himself in the park." Get a sneak preview of your scary future emojis below. Peter Weber
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
-
Giant schnauzer wins top prize at Westminster showSpeed Read Monty won best in show at the 149th Westminster Kennel Club dog show
-
Beyoncé, Kendrick Lamar take top GrammysSpeed Read Beyoncé took home album of the year for 'Cowboy Carter' and Kendrick Lamar's diss track 'Not Like Us' won five awards
-
The Louvre is giving 'Mona Lisa' her own roomSpeed Read The world's most-visited art museum is getting a major renovation
-
Honda and Nissan in merger talksSpeed Read The companies are currently Japan's second and third-biggest automakers, respectively
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tourSpeed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamationSpeed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box officeSpeed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
