Stephen Colbert Got the Gang Back Together for a Daily Show Reunion

Stephen Colbert invited all the old correspondents from The Daily Show with John Stewart on The Late Show Tuesday night, seating them on couches in a morning show formation that Colbert says they would have “made fun of” back when they were just rascally satirists on Comedy Central.

After Jon Stewart makes a comment about how the people on the couch reflect the level of diversity on the show, the group revisits some old segments from their days of baiting weirdoes and racists for ratings. Samantha Bee comments that there were times when she felt in danger during interviews, as she and producers traveled to distant locales to talk to “big homophobes.” You had to be nice to them so you didn’t get turned away.

Colbert jumps in to tell a story about running from a KKK rally after attendees realized he was with Comedy Central. He directed some Klan members to talk to his female producer.

“She came over at the moment and she goes, ‘What’s the problem?’” Colbert says, “He[the Klansmen] goes, ‘It’s this comedy thing, are you making fun of the Klan?’ and she goes, ‘Look, guys, the president of the Klan over there across the field, he knows all about what we’re doing, go talk to him.’ And they say, ‘We’re going to!’ and they walk off across the field and she goes, ‘HAUL ASS!’ And me ran as fast as we could.”

Of course, it wouldn’t be a late night segment without a silly sketch. Enjoy this flashback to Stephen Colbert’s last day on set with all his buddies, full of references to what we know now and they did not know then (George W. Bush, Bill Cosby, and Jared Fogle all get mentions):

If only their “liberal agenda” had panned out in the last 12 years.