Stephen Colbert resurrects his segment “The Werd” as a Martin Luther King Day present to his fans, along with a Mattress Sale or two.
Rejoice late night fans, for this week, Stephen Colbert is angry. Angry enough to throw caution to the winds and bring us a present to begin this Inaugural Week Tuesday with: the resurrection of his famous segment “The Werd”.
Now, if you find that spelling of this segment strange, let me jog your memory. After nine months of backroom gossip that said Colbert was having trouble finding his voice in the new non-political satire world of network Late Night, Colbert had a triumphant return to form (and ratings gold) last summer. As the jokes out of the RNC wrote themselves, he brought back his “Stephen Colbert” character from The Colbert Report as well as the segment that put him, and his show on the map in 2004 “The Word”. The next morning he woke up to discover that he had joined the ranks of such famous acts as Elvis, TLC, Little Richard and every American Idol contestant who won the show. That of someone who has signed away more than they realized to become famous, as Comedy Central sent a cease and desist announcing they not only owned rights to “The Word” segment, but the name Stephen Colbert in the context of that character.
Clearly outraged, Colbert immediately rebranded the segment as “The Werd” on air, did a single segment with it, and then (most likely on the advice of CBS’ lawyers) shelved it. And there is has sat on the shelf–until last night. Now, something has outraged Colbert more than Comedy Central’s lawyers declaring they own his very name and the persona he spent a decade of his life honing: the repeal of the ACA. And in response he has brought back “The Werd”.
Meanwhile, since it is MLK Day, Colbert also thought it might be a good time to poke a little fun at the American tradition of taking holidays that are supposed to be deep and meaningful and co-opting them to sell mattresses.
Next: Colbert vs. Meyers on Donald Trump’s Latest “Leak:” Who Did It Better
Colbert will be on all week this week. We’ll be keeping an eye open to see how he handles events as they unfold in the new America.