On Thursday Stephen Colbert will appear on air for the last time from his desk at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York. Over the years the 62-year-old comedian, a Catholic and native of South Carolina, has lampooned nearly everything, but Seattle often became a distinct target for his barbs. From anomalous heat to local celebrities — his jokes stuck with audiences on both sides of the screen.
Remember the stifling heat of 2021, when temperatures in Seattle reached 42 degrees Celsius (about 108°F). Colbert spoofed the series Frasier — a spin-off of the cult show Cheers, in which the psychiatrist protagonist moves to rainy Seattle and becomes a radio host. The comedian showed the character and his colleague dropping dead in the radio studio, playing on Seattle weather stereotypes, coffee culture and elitist intellectualism that the American audience instantly recognizes. “It’s so bad in Seattle that everyone wears flannel swim trunks,” the comedian quipped, and the city paper The Seattle Times wryly noted it could not confirm that fact.
In 2022, for the Space Needle’s 60th anniversary, Colbert didn’t miss a chance to poke fun at the famous tower. When a contest was announced to repaint its roof in the original “Galactic Gold” color, the comedian advised: “Better not enter and get a more exciting prize — don’t paint the Space Needle roof.” The tower’s management responded that they had a safety harness ready for Colbert if he decided to come.
Seattle politicians also got roasted. During his time hosting The Colbert Report, the comedian recreated a “lifelong dream” — throwing salmon, like at the Pike Place market, alongside Congressman Jim McDermott. Colbert not only struck the fish with a baseball bat but asked the politician if he liked “big butts” — a nod to the provocative 1992 hit “Baby Got Back” by Seattle native rapper Sir Mix-A-Lot. The joke referenced a 1990s scandal when McDermott was accused of tapping colleagues’ phones, which to American viewers became emblematic of the absurdity of political scandals. McDermott, unfortunately, didn’t get the joke.
Taylor Swift and her Eras Tour in 2023 also provided material. When the singer’s fans at Lumen Field — the Seattle Seahawks’ 67,000-seat home stadium — did synchronized stomping and dancing, seismologists recorded ground tremors equivalent to a magnitude 2.3 earthquake. The phenomenon, dubbed the “Swift Quake,” recalled the 2011 “Beast Quake,” when Seahawks fans produced similar vibrations after a touchdown. Colbert, himself a self-professed “Swiftie,” delightedly noted that her fans “registered on the Richter scale,” emphasizing that the enthusiasm of Seattle supporters is known for uncompromising volume.
Colbert didn’t spare local business either. In 2016, when Starbucks launched a mobile order app, The Wall Street Journal wrote that people missed how baristas mangled their names. The comedian sneered: “Starbucks’ main power has always been getting names wrong. It’s a company that called its smallest cup ‘tall.’” About Jeff Bezos in 2020 he said he looked “like the belly of a hairless cat,” while jokingly advising college graduates to be sure to “get Amazon Prime.”
The farewell episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will air on CBS and the streaming service Paramount+ at 11:35 p.m. The network canceled the show for economic reasons despite its ratings leadership among late-night programs. Colbert called the decision a “big fat bribe” — after Paramount paid $16 million to settle a lawsuit from President Trump while awaiting approval of a deal to sell the company.
Based on: How Stephen Colbert joked about Seattle, WA over the years