Stephen Colbert brings back his Colbert Report alter ego to pay tearful homage to Bill O'Reilly

On Wednesday's Late Show, Stephen Colbert did a little jig on the grave of Bill O'Reilly's Fox News career, but he also said he's "not going to sit here and publicly gloat" about the downfall of a TV personality whose microwave he once stole. In the second part of his monologue, he explained why. "Here's the thing, I owe a lot to Bill O'Reilly," he said. "I spent over nine years playing a character based largely on him — and then 12 months in therapy to de-bloviate myself. So tonight, we at The Late Show are proud to issue a statement from Bill O'Reilly's biggest fan, conservative pundit Stephen Colbert."

He cut to his Colbert Report alter ego, "live" from the cabin in the woods he shares with Jon Stewart. "Hello nation, and shame on you," that Colbert said. "You failed him. You failed Bill O'Reilly. You didn't deserve this great man." After railing against the decline of America, to where you can't even sexually harass anybody anymore, he invited O'Reilly to join him and Stewart in the woods. Then Late Show Colbert took over again. "In case you're a fan of sexual harassers who are on TV all the time, you still have Donald Trump," he said, moving on to the New England Patriots visiting the White House and Tuesday's special election in Georgia. Watch below. Peter Weber

Subscribe to The Week

Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

SUBSCRIBE & SAVE

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.

Sign up