Biden joked about rewriting Hamilton for Janet Yellen. Colbert's Late Show made it happen.


Sometimes Stephen Colbert's Late Show scratches a very specific, usually slightly nerdy itch, be it Lord or the Rings lore or ... well, mostly Lord of the Rings. But for fans of Lin-Manuel Miranda's Hamilton, monetary policy, Wikipedia, fact-checking, and former Federal Reserve Chairwoman Janet Yellen — President-elect Joe Biden's pick to run the Treasury Department — Colbert hit it out of the park in the cold open to Wednesday's show.
And Colbert even roped in a star for his new musical, probably. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
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.
-
Music reviews: Laufey, Deftones, and Earl Sweatshirt
Feature "A Matter of Time," "Private Music," and "Live Laugh Love"
-
'What's profitable today is not unification. It's segmentation.'
Instant Opinion Opinion, comment and editorials of the day
-
GPT-5: Not quite ready to take over the world
Feature OpenAI rolls back its GPT-5 model after a poorly received launch
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wife
speed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play