Stephen Colbert Addresses His SOTU Gaffe Live On The Late Show
Last night, President Joe Biden delivered the first State of the Union address to Congress of his presidency, addressing a wide variety of topics ranging from Russia's recent invasion of the Ukraine to the ongoing COVID-19 pandemic. Immediately after the speech aired, CBS aired a live version of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert." Normally, "The Late Show" is filmed live in front of a studio audience and then broadcast from tape later that night, but going live after a State of the Union has become a tradition — in fact, "The Late Show" has gone live 44 times since 2016 (via The New York Daily News).
Stephen Colbert spent most of the monologue reacting to the speech and providing commentary. Overall, Colbert described the SOTU as a "roller coaster ride of rip roaring reasonableness!" Colbert also highlighted a moment when President Biden gave a shoutout to Ukrainian ambassador to the United States Oksana Markarova, prompting Congress to give her a standing ovation. "It was a moving moment of bipartisan unity," Colbert said, "especially considering the last time Congress stood up that fast together they were the ones fleeing a fascist invasion" (via Deadline).
However, as can often happen with live TV, the monologue didn't go off without a hitch. During the monologue Colbert and his team had a glaring production glitch, but the longtime comedian handled it like a pro.
Fun screwups like this are why you watch live TV
The mix up happened during a joke about one of President Biden's lines from the speech, which was about purchasing anti-viral pills to combat COVID-19.
Colbert teed up his punchline by saying "Wow, I didn't know Joe Biden was in the cast of..." before realizing that the production team had played the wrong clip. In that clip, Biden detailed a plan to select a chief prosecutor to combat pandemic-related fraud.
When Colbert realized the mistake, he cracked up. "We've skipped ahead in our video a little bit," he said. "We've never made a live mistake before, so... you're all..." he continued, laughing. "This is how the sausage is being made, ladies and gentlemen. But rarely do we let live cameras in."
Colbert then asked a producer if they had the correct clip cued up, to which the producer replied "Hope so."
The second time around, the correct clip did indeed. In it, Biden said "I've ordered more pills than anyone in the world has," and Colbert delivered the punchline: "Wow, I didn't know Joe was cast in the next season of 'Euphoria,'" a reference to the HBO teen drama that often involves drug abuse.
With the joke delivered, Colbert celebrated. "There you go! Boom! Oh! Oh! Nothing like a live show, ladies and gentlemen" (via Yahoo).