Stephen Colbert praised Joe Biden‘s decision to step aside from the 2024 election during his Late Show monologue on Monday, calling the president a “selfless leader.” He also retired his beloved pair of Biden aviator sunglasses, which he used to impersonate the president.
“I want to salute this good man for the selfless act of stepping aside from being the most powerful person in the world for the greater good,” Colbert said. “This act puts Joe Biden in league with history’s most selfless leaders: Roman general Cincinnatus, the father of our country George Washington and Kim Cattrall, who has stepped down as Samantha after Pelosi showed her the polls.”
Colbert went on to read an excerpt of Biden’s letter announcing his withdrawal, and described the note as one full of “courage, grace, humility and true patriotism.”
“I will tell you one thing,” he quipped, “that guy would make a great president.”
The comic continued his praise with a memory: “On this very program right on Sept. 10, 2015, I encouraged then-Vice President Biden to run,” Colbert said. “He ignored me for five years, then he did it, and I believe he has been a great president. He steered this country out of a horrific pandemic. He saved countless lives by encouraging people to get vaccinated. He brought the economy back. He rallied our allies. He reasserted America’s place in the world stage and — most inspiring of all, at no time was he Donald Trump.”
Elsewhere in the monologue, the late night host announced he would official retire his “Joe Biden in old” jokes, but then said he would repurpose them into “Donald Trump is old” jokes, now that Trump is the oldest ever presidential nominee from either party.
“I mean, that guy is so old he used to judge the Miss Pangea pageant,” Colbert said.
He finished his comments with eyes on Vice President Kamala Harris, who accepted Biden’s endorsement for her presidential campaign yesterday afternoon. Colbert reviewed a list of high profile politicians and celebrities who have supported Harris, including singer Charli XCX, whose recent album brat has led to many viral fancam videos of the veep online.
In an exuberant celebration of the meme, Colbert performed a viral TikTok dance to “Apple,” one of the several viral sensations from brat.
“That’s two dance breaks in one monologue, we are living through history, ladies and gentlemen,” Colbert said (he earlier performed a separate dance in reference to a video of Harris dancing).