--- description: Stephen Colbert announces the return of his character from The Colbert Report and weighs in on the election. title: The Old Stephen Colbert of the 'Colbert Report' Is Officially Back image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Stephen Colbert Brings Some _Colbert Report_ Magic to _The Late Show_ by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 2:24 PM CUT by [Ashley Hoffman](/author/ashley-hoffman/) ## Ashley Hoffman Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Jul 28, 2016 2:24 PM CUT [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4425970/hillary-clinton-stephen-colbert-cartoon/ "undefined"), the comedian’s conservative pundit character from [_The Colbert Report_](http://time.com/4423672/stephen-colbert-democratci-convention/ "undefined")_,_ showed up again on _The Late Show_ Wednesday night. Other than the appearance on the show during the Republican National Convention last week, viewers hadn’t seen the character since _The Colbert Report_ ended. After unpacking the mess about how corporate lawyers are claiming [intellectual property rights](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/28/stephen-colbert-alter-ego-twin-cousin "undefined") to his old character, Colbert announced that the persona will be a “permanent part” of _The Late Show_ team. For more on that issue, read [this](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/07/28/stephen-colbert-alter-ego-twin-cousin "undefined"). Colbert endeavored to work around all that by introducing his beloved alter ego as his “identical twin cousin” for the classic bit, “The Word,” (now called “The Werd”) to make the case that torn voters should vote for their second least favorite candidate. “You might have to vote for a person you don’t really want,” he said on the presidential race between Hillary Clinton and Donald Trump. “But it’s better than getting the person you really don’t want.” Watch below. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4428209/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-stephen-colbert/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4428209/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-stephen-colbert/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Brings Some Colbert Report Magic to The Late Show","datePublished":"2016-07-28T14:24:39.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:34:52.228Z","description":"\"It’s better than getting the person you really don’t want\"","url":"https://time.com/4428209/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-stephen-colbert/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Comedy","Videos","stephen colbert","Election 2016","the late show"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Ashley Hoffman","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/ashley-hoffman/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4428209/donald-trump-hillary-clinton-stephen-colbert/","name":"Stephen Colbert Brings Some Colbert Report Magic to The Late Show"}}]}] ```