Stephen Colbert Riffs On His Film Crew Being Detained On Capitol Hill

Stephen Colbert found himself part of the news he usually monologues about and used the top of his Monday show to discuss why his film crew was detained in Washington D.C. last week.

Colbert’s crew was filming with the puppet character Triumph The Insult Comic Dog, operated and voiced by Robert Smigel, and Colbert said they were covering the January 6th hearings occurring in D.C. right now.

The crew had reportedly been filming in and around Capitol Hill without incident for two days, with Colbert cracking “Democratic and Republican congresspeople agreed to talk to Triumph. He’s a bipartisan puppy. He’s so neutral, he’s neutered.”

Colbert noted that the crew was “invited into the offices of the congresspeople they were interviewing,” and they were detained while recording some “last-minute puppetry” in the halls of the Longworth House Office Building.

“The Capitol Police are much more cautious than they were, say, 18 months ago, and for a very good reason. If you don’t know what that reason is, I know what news network you watch,” Colbert said, riffing on Fox News’ initial refusal to air the January 6th hearings.

He also hit back at conservative commentators attempting to run with this story and falsely claim that the crew was attempting something more nefarious. “I’m shocked I have to explain the difference – but an insurrection involves disrupting the lawful actions of Congress and howling for the blood of elected leaders,” Colbert continued.

Colbert said the attempts to compare his crew’s situation with the attack on the Capitol are a “shameful and grotesque insult to the memory of everyone who died. And it obscenely trivializes the service and the courage the Capitol Police showed on that terrible day.”