“I want to talk about pretending,†Stephen Colbert said on last night’s episode of The Late Show, which aired just a little over 24 hours after the Oregon shooting. “That is something that I know a little bit about.†Colbert used his own public persona as a means of segueing into a sober discussion on the insanity that is America’s inability to have a rational, civilized discussion on gun control in the wake of repeated violence. The severity with which Colbert spoke harkens back to some of Jon Stewart’s more serious talks, and presents a new side of the comedian. “I don’t know how to start a show like this,†Colbert said on his difficulty processing the Sisyphean repetition of violence, gun culture, and the insane way we talk about these issues. “One of the definitions of insanity is changing nothing and pretending something will change.†He then veered into that acerbic Colbert style to discuss the “honesty insanity†of Donald Trump. You can watch the eight-minute monologue below.
