Stephen Colbert Dancing With David Byrne Is a Highlight of His Last Week

I was so mad when Stephen Colbert got cancelled for speaking out against our current corrupt president. I still am, but initially, that mix of anger, shock, and sadness made me want revenge. I was more Chris O’Donnell in the second act of Batman Forever. Now, while I’m not saving Two-Face from certain doom in hopes that he rot in prison, I am softening my stance (or at least changing how I would like to see said revenge carried out), and accepting that someone older and wiser than me is taking the high ground as he always has.

Colbert has certainly spoken about how terrible CBS is. He hasn’t held back in the time since the end of his show was announced, but he also hasn’t changed who he’s been this entire time, which makes the whole reason this happened even sillier. Colbert spoke out in a reasonable manner and was punished. Now, he continues to do the same, but is also shifting his focus from anger to celebration. When he was first fired, I wrote that he should go out with a bang. He is, it’s just the kind of bang he’s always preferred.

Monday night made that clear, as the host sat with the people who have worked on his show and walked down memory lane. The man is a sweetheart. That doesn’t mean that he hasn’t brought on people like David Letterman and Jon Stewart to take the network to task, but that’s just not Colbert’s style. It seems like the best revenge for him is living well, and he’s doing just that. You can see it on his face as he danced across the stage last night in a blue jumpsuit with David Byrne.

Byrne and his band played a fantastic rendition of Burning Down the House, complete with incredible staging and choreography, and towards the end, Colbert threw on the same outfit that the group was wearing and happily pranced across the stage. It felt like joyous wish fulfillment at its finest, and that’s all I want for Colbert at this point. I want him to be happy, because everything sucks eggs.

His last week has been as emotional as I expected, and we still have two shows left. The last one will apparently be longer than usual, and I’m fully prepared to be sobbing by the end.