Stephen Colbert Makes a Surprise Return to Late Night

After the monologue, Mr. Colbert turned to a piece taped last week featuring a “Late Show” producer and his mother learning about coronavirus. The rest of the show comprised segments from a February episode.

When the late night shows went on hiatus, some observers lamented that the hosts would not be around to add comfort, humor and a skeptical voice to the national discourse as they had during earlier times of crisis.

David Letterman’s return to CBS six days after the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks was a landmark in the genre’s history. Mr. Letterman — along with Jimmy Fallon on NBC — also broadcast episodes without a studio audience in the aftermath of Hurricane Sandy. Veteran late night producers have also noted that moments of crisis give hosts a chance to break the rigid formats of their nightly shows.

Mr. Colbert, who has the most-watched show in late night, did not have any competition on Monday night. ABC showed a repeat of “Jimmy Kimmel Live!,” a night before “Nightline” temporarily takes over the 11:35 p.m. time slot. New York’s NBC affiliate, WNBC, went with the local news until midnight, pushing a repeat of “The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon” to early Tuesday.

But Mr. Colbert’s bath tub monologue could signal weeks of do-it-yourself comedy from late night entertainers.

Two of his competitors were not entirely absent on Monday. Mr. Fallon posted a 21-second original song dedicated to hand washing to his Twitter account. And in a short video posted on YouTube, the TBS host Conan O’Brien sanitized a jigsaw puzzle by boiling its pieces while singing “Happy Birthday” in various accents.

When asked if Mr. Colbert would be back with a new monologue on Tuesday, a CBS spokeswoman declined to comment.

Article source: https://www.nytimes.com/2020/03/17/business/media/stephen-colbert-bath-tub.html