Colbert and Back Again

Last weekend, I was lucky enough to have a once in a lifetime trip to NYC. It was first planned nearly a year ago when a batch of tickets went onsale for Hamilton (if you don't know what I'm talking about... crack a book... or even pop culture). My primo history nerd pal and I got tickets for the show for September 10th, also her 30th birthday. We laughed at trying to plan a trip nearly a year in advance, but we made it happen.

Hamilton deserves a post all to itself, but here I'll just say that it was completely incredible and totally worth waiting a year. I'd happily go back again and again.

Instead, I want to write about something I tacked onto the trip in the last weeks before we left... a visit to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Tony and I were fans of Stephen Colbert from the first time we saw him on The Daily Show with Jon Stewart. When he got his own show on Comedy Central, we watched it avidly and more often than The Daily Show. He is smart, and funny, and so good at shining light on our political system and the idiosyncrasies of us.

Tony and I talked quite a few times about trying to go see The Colbert Report, and we tweeted at him and tried to engage with him about what we were going through. We loved everything he did. We watched his final episodes together and we were both so excited that he would be taking over The Late Show.

I wrote about him last August, after I read an interview he gave. He described his personal tragedy, how his mother helped him handle it, and how accepting it changed his life forever. I can't do it justice... so read it yourself...

http://www.mbird.com/2015/08/stephen-colbert-love-the-thing-that-he-most-wishes-had-not-happened/

This only made me love him more. It helped me with my own grief, and gave me hope that our kids aren't doomed.

So, I got tickets to see The Late Show and it was incredible. I even worked up the courage to stick up my hand during the Q&A before taping. I did it for Tony, or maybe he called on me for Tony... either way, STEPHEN COLBERT AND I TALKED ABOUT HISTORY!

This is what I would have said afterwards if I'd had the gumption...

Stephen, your star is very bright, and deservedly so. Thanks for all the laughs and for everything you do. Thanks for making smartness look cool. I'd love to have a beer with you someday... we could discuss the good times, the bad times, and Harding and his poor card skills!