Jon Stewart Helped Colbert Discover Trump’s Trumpiness

Stephen Colbert kicked off a week of live editions of The Late Show covering the Republican Convention on Monday night with a shocker. No, I’m not talking about the rumored appearance by Colbert’s old Comedy Central pal Jon Stewart, which indeed proved true. I’m referring to the fact that Stewart helped Colbert re-introduce Colbert’s old, great Colbert-the-fatuous-pontificator persona, beloved by millions and left behind once he made the move to CBS.

Related: Get Complete Coverage of the RNC at Yahoo Politics

The premise of the bit with Stewart was that Jon was living in a cabin in the woods, subsisting on “kale jerky.” Cut off from communication with the outside world, Stewart was shocked to hear of Trump’s nomination, and he called for a reinforcement: The Comedy Central-era Colbert, complete with his Captain America shield.

Stewart then vanished, and Colbert took command magnificently, spinning out a classic variation on his old “Word” routines. The Word this night was “Trumpiness,” which Colbert compared to his 11 year-old creation, “truthiness.” Truthinesss, he explained, “comes from the gut; Trumpiness comes from much further down the gastrointestinal tract.”

It was thrilling to see Colbert return to his earlier, more biting persona, even if it must also be viewed as a partial admission of defeat — that his sunny persona as the host of The Late Show isn’t allowing him to be all he could be.

Or as the host put it: “Hello nation — did you miss me? Well, I did.” So did I.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.