Late Night Roundup: Joe Biden Goes Heart-To-Heart With Stephen Colbert
In a truly remarkable interview, Vice President Biden sat down with Stephen Colbert to talk about his life, his family, and the recent loss of his son Beau. And the two men clearly bonded over a shared history of family tragedies, and the search for personal authenticity while living a public life.
“You know, my dad had an expression. He used to say, you know you’re a success as a parent when you turn and look at your child, and you realize they turned out better than you,” Biden said. “I was a hell of a success. My son was better than me. And he was better than me in almost every way.”
By the end of the appearance, Colbert was personally imploring Biden to jump into the race for president: “I know that’s an emotional decision that you have to make. But it’s gonna be emotional for a lot of people if you don’t run. And sir, I just want to say that I think that your experience, and your example of suffering, and service, is something that would be sorely missed in the race — not that there aren’t good people on both sides running — but I think we’d all be very happy if you did run. And if you don’t, I know your service to the country is something we should all salute.”
In other news, Larry Wilmore took on the return to the public spotlight of another vice president, Dick Cheney — which has involved telling lies about his own record on Iran that even Fox News has to call him out on: “Number one, you just got caught in a lie. Number two, you didn’t even act caught…This is why it’s hard to have an intelligent conversation with this impersonator of a human being. Mr. Cheney, it’s one thing to not have a pulse anymore — but to not have a conscience is unconscionable.”
Seth Meyers had a special appearance by New York City Mayor Bill de Blasio, who gave an important message: “Look up from your damn phones! Seriously, what the hell are you doing?”