Stephen Colbert

Hesitancy about Hillary Clinton is completely reasonable.

We just happen to be in extraordinary circumstances.

I didn't really want to model the behavior of punditry anymore because I thought it was ape.

limiting on a certain level that I wanted to be able to do more than that character and I also didn't I guess the word would be I didn't respect my model anymore and I and I wait wait what do you mean by that

Well, you know, people always said it was Bill, but it's punditry in general, the sense of certainty, regardless of the facts that was embodied in the idea of truthiness.

That was the thesis statement for the entire show.

that how you feel is more important than what the facts are and that the truth that you feel is correct is more important than anything that the facts could support, which we expressed in a very concise way on the show.

We embodied it satirically, though it's not really a new idea.

And as you can see, it's been amplified in interesting ways since we went off the air.

But I didn't just want to play the game anymore.

That was a single thesis statement that we tried to remind ourselves of every day.

I would – when in doubt, I would just sort of recite those mantras to myself about what is truthiness and I'm looking out for you and because I'm looking out for you, I'm also looking over your shoulder because I've got your back and

And I have a special relationship with the audience that is – and it's only us.

We're the only ones who get it.

And if you agree with me, I love you and please love you because I agree with you.

And all those emotional ideas, I'd have to remind myself every day to stay in character.

And I'd remind myself of them right before I went on stage every night because I thought, well, you've come this far.

Why blow it now?

And toward the end of the show, I started to think that my love of that game was diminishing to the point that I might actually blow the entire – I might actually drop the entire China set one day because I just couldn't take playing that character anymore.

Yeah, I guess so.