‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’ Democratic Convention Night 1

CHICAGO — It was pretty quiet around the Auditorium Theater in downtown Chicago Tuesday morning — probably no surprise considering how late it was the night before. “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” kicked off a four-night series of live shows from the venue – part of the Roosevelt University campus – with one episode not going off the air until just after 1 a.m. Central Time.

That may be why the Auditorium still seemed a bit dead at lunchtime – apart from a lone man sitting outside the theater carrying two large backpacks. Either he was willing to wait days to get a ticket to the show, or he was a Roosevelt student who had chosen that specific spot to scroll on his phone for hours.

Otherwise, pedestrians and Roosevelt students strolled past the Auditorium without much thought about the big late night talk show planned behind the doors. Aside from a few moving trucks in the back and a large poster touting “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” in Chicago (complete with Colbert holding a Chicago hot dog), there were few signs that CBS’ late night talk franchise was on was about to launch Night. 2 from his residence there later that evening. The public was asked not to queue until 6pm, although fans were already queuing at 4.45pm on Monday

Of course, that means those audience members ended up spending eight hours in the Auditorium when all was said and done. (Hopefully they ate beforehand.) “The Late Show” normally airs at 10:35 p.m. (11:35 p.m. ET) in the Central Time Zone, but the long first night of the Democratic National Convention has changed that.

President Joe Biden didn’t start his speech until around 10:30 p.m. And by the time he finished almost an hour later, CBS still had half an hour of local news to go. That’s why “The Late Show” didn’t start until around 12pm CT – 1am ET on Monday.

“It was an extraordinary night and extraordinarily long,” Colbert said in his monologue. “Technically, and correct me if I’m wrong, we just entered the first night of the 2028 campaign.”

That didn’t stop the patient audience from cheering and cheering when the show finally went live. “It was a really raucous, enthusiastic crowd, despite the fact that we didn’t go on air until just before 1 a.m. ET,” said a production insider.

The historic Auditorium Theater, which first opened in 1889, has nearly 4,000 seats. Audiences should be in their seats around 8 p.m. – at which point the show pipes sound in the convention for people to watch while they wait. (The “Late Show” team goes live to respond to the evening’s events in real time, so it also helps if the audience knows what Colbert is referring to in his monologue). When the DNC ends and CBS goes to local news, the warm-up comedian from “The Late Show” comes out and gets the crowd excited for the show.

“The Auditorium is beautiful, historic and cavernous,” Colbert said in his opening, before pointing a camera toward the upper balcony area. He then had a cameraman ready to show the bird a bird’s eye view of how it could barely be seen from above. “This is the first theater I have ever performed in where the last row of seats has supplemental oxygen.”

On Monday, guests who stayed up late to join Colbert included former Sec. of State Hillary Rodham Clinton and “Veep” star Julia Louis Dreyfus. The show opened with a pre-recorded piece in which Colbert, Jennifer Hudson, Nick Offerman, Sean Hayes, Jason Sudeikis, Robert Smigel and George Wendt gave their views on Chicago through a tongue-in-cheek “Chicago National Anthem.”

Live episodes continue Tuesday with guests including Speaker Emerita Nancy Pelosi, Democratic Leader of the House of Representatives Hakeem Jeffries and a special appearance from Laura Benanti, who regularly plays Melania Trump on the show. Wednesday includes Sec. by Transportation Pete Buttigieg and a performance by Chicago’s Chance the Rapper. And then on Thursday, after Kamala Harris delivers her speech accepting the Democratic presidential nomination, “The Late Show” will go live with Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez (D-N.Y.) and an appearance by Mavis Staples and Jeff Tweedy.

And with reports that speakers have been asked to shorten their remarks at Tuesday’s DNC, perhaps “The Late Show” will start on time — or at least before midnight.