Stephen Colbert opened his first "Late Show" monologue with a callback to his Comedy Central character, announcing, "Hello Nation."
He then had jokes. Here are five of the best, staring with his very first crack as CBS' 11:35 p.m. host:
1. After thunderous applause, a standing ovation and a "Stephen! Stephen! Stephen!" chant: "Well folks, if I knew you were going to do that, I would have done this months ago."
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2. "You're all witnessing television history, and like most history, it's not on the History Channel."
3. "Folks, we've been working so hard, so very hard to get this show ready to you, and I have to say: As long as I have nine months to make one hour of TV, I could do this forever."
4. "I couldn't ask for a better TV family than the good folks at CBS, right here. They're lovely people, really lovely people. They're so welcoming, I feel like a third 'Broke Girl.'"
5. "With this show, I begin the search for the real Stephen Colbert. I just hope I don't find him on Ashley Madison."
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There were also solid site gags early on, one involving network CEO Les Moonves and a lever to throw to a rerun of "The Mentalist."
After, from the desk, Colbert gave a nice tribute to predecessor David Letterman. He then showed off his set and studio, interacted with competitor Jimmy Fallon, and plugged Sabra hummus — hard.
After the first commercial break, Colbert got right down to ragging on Donald Trump, who is sure to be one of his biggest targets during this inaugural season. The comedian downed some Oreos as part of that gag. At this pace of eating early and often on camera, Colbert may not fit in Wednesday neat mailman blue suit by sweeps.
