The government shutdown is coming for your beer, and Stephen Colbert is taking a stand

Stephen Colbert explains the shutdown using beer puns
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

The partial government shutdown, entering its 19th day, is already affecting about 800,000 federal workers, "and it's just going to get worse," Stephen Colbert said on Tuesday's Late Show, "because now it's coming for your beer." The shutdown "is holding craft beers hostage because brewers can't get labels approved for new beers," he said. "No new beer? S--t just got real." If things don't change, some craft brewers are saying they will have to take the painful step of dumping out their label-less beer. "If only there was something they could drink to dull that pain," Colbert quipped.

"So this shutdown is suddenly getting serious," Colbert said. "I mean, first they came for our national parks and I said nothing, because I was drunk on beer. Then they came for our beer and I was even drunker. But it's time for me to take a stand." And what that translated to was Colbert bringing out a series of beers and ales (with approved labels) to explain the shutdown using puns. "The president of the United States is living the High Life," he said, for example. "It's been almost three weeks, and I Amstel pissed about it." There's lots more, though he fumbled the Yuengling and simply made up the last beer.

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Peter Weber, The Week US

Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.