It was supposed to be another night of laughs on The Late Show — but what unfolded felt more like a televised execution of ego.

In a searing, no-holds-barred segment that’s already being called “the roast that shook America”, Stephen Colbert and California Governor Gavin Newsom unleashed a comedic assault of historic proportions on former President Donald Trump, shredding his myth of invincibility in front of millions.

Colbert opened the night like a prizefighter stepping into the ring.

“For the record,” he declared, “Donald Trump is very much alive — though his credibility died years ago.”

The studio erupted. The crowd sensed blood. And what followed was nothing short of late-night carnage.

Newsom, sharp as a scalpel, joined in with icy precision — dissecting Trump’s obsession with image, his fragile ego, and his endless need for validation.

“The man’s addicted to applause,” Newsom said. “But take away the cameras, and all that’s left is silence — and fear.”

Then came the bombshell moment that lit up social media: Colbert introduced footage of a mysterious statue that had appeared overnight on the National Mall — depicting Trump and Jeffrey Epstein holding hands in eerie detail.
The audience gasped.
Colbert didn’t miss a beat.

“Finally,” he quipped, “a monument to bad taste and worse decisions.”

From there, the segment spiraled into a masterclass of televised dismantling.
Colbert turned Trump’s gaffes into ammunition, his quotes into punchlines, and his presidency into a punchline too big to ignore.
Every joke landed like a hit — part comedy, part catharsis — until even the laugh track seemed to echo with disbelief.

But beneath the humor, there was something sharper — a fury wrapped in wit.
Newsom’s commentary exposed a deeper truth: Trump’s legacy wasn’t leadership, but performance; not progress, but spectacle.

By the end of the night, Trump wasn’t the towering political figure his followers once revered — he was a character in his own farce, dismantled by laughter and left standing in the ruins of his own myth.

The clip exploded online.
Hashtags like #ColbertVsTrump and #LateNightShowdown dominated global feeds.
Commentators hailed it as “the night comedy finally drew blood.”

As Colbert signed off with a grin, his final line hung in the air like a verdict:

“When history laughs at you, you don’t get to call it fake news.”