During his show, Stephen Colbert made a lighthearted joke about the arrests by referring to them as “first-degree puppetry.”
Stephen Colbert discussed the recent arrests of his staff and production members, who were charged with accessing a restricted area of the United States Capitol building the week before their appearance on his show. The arrests took place earlier this week. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was filming at the time, and the event took place on set.
Stephen Colbert downplayed the arrests on Monday’s broadcast of “The Late Show,” describing the incident as a “very professional” exchange between his workers and “cautious” Capitol Police. A “very professional talk,” in his words, was had regarding the arrests.
The host of the show started by asking the audience about their weekends before cracking a joke and saying, “Well, I had a fascinating one and some of my crew had a memorable one.” This was the opening of the show.

The host concluded that “the Capitol police were just doing their thing,” while “my staff was just doing their job,” adding that “everyone was pretty professional” and “everyone was quite calm.” “The workers that I employ were detained, processed, and then let go after their ordeal. The whole situation was distressing to the members of my group.”