There was uproarious applause on The Late Night with Stephen Colbert last night when the host first mentioned the ongoing Representative John Lewis-led Democrats’ sit-in on gun control in the House of Representatives — and Colbert applauded along. (Since last night, the House has been adjourned until July 5, but the protest itself has been still continuing this morning among Democrats).
Colbert dived into a brief section of the show on the sit-in, first describing (as it’d happened recently at the time) how the Republicans had shut off C-SPAN’s cameras in the House (the sit-in had made for a viral moment for the channel, with James Poniewozik calling the sit-in “the hottest drama on cable,” and after the cameras were turned off, the network started broadcasting video from representatives’ social media posts).
Colbert also made a very good joke about sitting, which I daren’t spoil here. He jabbed Republican Oklahoma Representative Tom Cole, who said, “I don’t think we should allow any group to bring the work of the House to a halt.” Colbert’s response: “It’s true, you wouldn’t want the gridlock to lose its momentum.”
Watch the Colbert clip:
Speaking of C-SPAN, you can watch the continuing sit-in live there, where the cameras seem to be back on.