“Only In Monroe,” Stephen Colbert takes over Michigan public-access cable TV show for night

Last week, President Barack Obama visited comedian Marc Maron’s garage in the hills outside Los Angeles to record a podcast.

This week, Stephen Colbert took over a public access cable-TV program in a small town south of Detroit and interviewed the program’s regular hosts as well as superstar rapper Eminem.

What’s next, Prince performs live in concert in my living room? (The offer is on the table, in my living room, Prince!)

As for Colbert, he explained himself near the top of his 41 minutes hosting “Only In Monroe” by saying: “Since my last show ended in December, I’ve been itching to host a talk show again. But my new theater is not ready yet, so I decided to head over to Monroe, Michigan, look around, and give it a Michigander.”

He filmed the program on Tuesday for broadcast on Monroe Public Access Cable Television (MPACT) late that night, interviewing the show’s regular hosts — Michelle Bowman and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson. They’re both registered nurses, with Wilson the former 1988 Miss America winner. Colbert called Bowman’s bluff on a claim she’d made in a previous episode about painting her nails while waiting in her car at red lights.

Colbert also interviewed Eminem, introducing him by his birth name, Marshall Mathers, and treating him in a manner that landed somewhere between his old Comedy Central persona of “Stephen Colbert” of The Colbert Report, and Zach Galifianakis from the Funny or Die webseries, “Between Two Ferns.” Anyone wondering what kind of persona Colbert will adopt come September when he begins hosting The Late Show for CBS will leave this show still wondering.

Just don’t leave a Yelp review for Colbert on “Only In Monroe.”

Fun fact: While Colbert talked about his new show not being ready yet, attentive viewers may have noticed that a picture of the inside of the Ed Sullivan Theatre in New York City appeared on the TV screen next to him. Looks like they still have plenty of work to do these next two months!

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Sean L. McCarthy

Editor and publisher since 2007, when he was named New York's Funniest Reporter. Former newspaper reporter at the New York Daily News, Boston Herald and smaller dailies and community papers across America. Loves comedy so much he founded this site.

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