Nolte: Stephen Colbert Exits Stage Left In an Orgy of Self-worship

May 23, 2026
10:51 am

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Stephen Colbert’s farewell to “The Late Show” wasn’t so much a curtain call as a self-congratulatory lap around the Beltway echo chamber, and the firearms community should take note. For eight years the host used his platform to paint gun owners as dangerous relics clinging to outdated rights, rarely offering a dissenting voice or even basic context on defensive gun uses that now outnumber criminal ones by wide margins. His exit, framed by legacy media as a noble stand against “threats to democracy,” actually underscores how insulated late-night comedy became from the very Americans who keep and bear arms—millions of whom tuned him out long ago in favor of podcasts and independent voices that treat the Second Amendment as a living safeguard rather than a punchline. The real takeaway for pro-2A readers is how quickly cultural institutions that once shaped public opinion are losing their grip. Colbert’s brand of humor relied on an audience that already agreed gun control was settled morality; when that audience shrank, the show’s relevance evaporated. Meanwhile, states with constitutional carry and surging permit numbers continue to post some of the lowest violent-crime rates, a data point late-night writers never seemed curious enough to explore. As legacy outlets double down on the same tired framing, gun owners are quietly building parallel media ecosystems that prize facts over feelings and treat the right to keep and bear arms as foundational rather than fringe. Colbert’s departure also signals an opening. With one less nightly sermon normalizing the idea that “commonsense” restrictions are inevitable, the 2A community can accelerate efforts to normalize armed self-reliance in popular culture. Every new state that drops permit requirements, every range that hosts a first-time shooter clinic, and every creator who refuses to self-censor on firearms issues chips away at the narrative vacuum Colbert helped maintain. The audience didn’t leave comedy; it left the version of comedy that treated constitutional rights as optional stage props.

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The real takeaway for pro-2A readers is how quickly cultural institutions that once shaped public opinion are losing their grip. Colbert’s brand of humor relied on an audience that already agreed gun control was settled morality; when that audience shrank, the show’s relevance evaporated. Meanwhile, states with constitutional carry and surging permit numbers continue to post some of the lowest violent-crime rates, a data point late-night writers never seemed curious enough to explore. As legacy outlets double down on the same tired framing, gun owners are quietly building parallel media ecosystems that prize facts over feelings and treat the right to keep and bear arms as foundational rather than fringe.

Colbert’s departure also signals an opening. With one less nightly sermon normalizing the idea that “commonsense” restrictions are inevitable, the 2A community can accelerate efforts to normalize armed self-reliance in popular culture. Every new state that drops permit requirements, every range that hosts a first-time shooter clinic, and every creator who refuses to self-censor on firearms issues chips away at the narrative vacuum Colbert helped maintain. The audience didn’t leave comedy; it left the version of comedy that treated constitutional rights as optional stage props.

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