Stephen Colbert's finale chose joy as resistance

Colbert was hired as a voice-over for test radio spots while being paid at Screen Actors Guild scale. He recorded for two days and delivered exceptional results, taking as many takes as needed and improvising beyond the written script. He created additional character material, including a shady friend named Spider, to promote an AT&T Wireless friends and family plan for $19.99 per month. The performer’s creativity and willingness to share talent impressed a junior copywriter, even though the client never ran the ads. Later, Colbert’s late-show closing used a machine metaphor, suggesting that choosing joy makes hard work feel less painful. His dismissal followed a period of success, with CBS citing financial losses.

"Colbert came into the studio for two straight days - being paid at scale, which is basically the established minimum wage for members of the Screen Actors Guild - and blew the goddamn doors off the place. He did as many takes as we needed from him. He ad-libbed off the script I'd written, inventing a shady friend of his named Spider whom he knew would just love getting AT&T Wireless' friends and family plan for only $19.99 a month."

"He was as brilliant that day as he'd been on national television. I was in awe of the man, not merely because of his seemingly boundless talent, but by his willingness to share that talent with everyone, even for a s-ty radio ad campaign that our client ultimately never ran. I thought about that when I watched Colbert close out his "Late Show" on CBS last night, particularly this tidbit from his cold opening: "To do this many shows, it has to be a machine. But the thing is, if you choose to do it with joy, it doesn't hurt as much when your fingers get caught in the gears.""

"For those of you unfamiliar with the story, Colbert started on the "Late Show" in 2015, taking over from the retiring David Letterman, who remains the standard in the vanishing art of late-night talk show hosting. Colbert took the show to No. 1 in its time slot and kept it there, only to be abruptly canceled by CBS last year. CBS claimed the show was losing money, but wiser people (me) know that Colbert was offered up as a sacrificial lamb to Donald Trump's"

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