Watch Stephen Colbert Hail Palin’s Return to Campaign Trail
Stephen Colbert welcomed back “the original material girl,” Sarah Palin, on The Late Show Wednesday, celebrating the wealth of comedy to be harvested from the former vice presidential candidate’s endorsement of Donald Trump.
While Colbert thanked Trump for keeping his joke coffers stuffed, he was so excited about Palin’s return he started singing Kelly Clarkson’s “Since You’ve Been Gone.”
“God I have missed you,” Colbert said. “It’s like a magical eagle made a wish on a flag pin and it came to life. Which is great — for me.”
Colbert let Palin do much of the talking, relishing the greatest hits sound bites she delivered in her endorsement speech, including “Hopey-Changey,” “Community Organizer,” and “Drill, Baby, Drill!” But then Colbert offered a bonkers supercut of Palin’s even crazier new material.
“Sarah Palin just guaranteed Trump the evangelical vote because I think she was speaking in tongues,” Colbert cracked.
The host was so moved, he tased the part of his brain that understands sentence structure and went off on a blinding, brilliant monologue in which he imagined Palin endorsing all the presidential candidates. The rambling tirade found Colbert putting it up for “joyful tortoise Jeb Bush” as well as Sebastian the crab from The Little Mermaid, and even found him reciting a chunk of Allen Ginsberg’s Howl.