Two nights after his Late Show farewell drew 6.74 million viewers on CBS, Stephen Colbert turned up on a public access channel in Monroe, Michigan.
Colbert guest-hosted an episode of Only in Monroe that aired at 11:35 p.m. on Friday, May 22, according to Billboard. The show is hosted by Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rae Rafko Wilson, who was Miss America in 1988.
It was not Colbert's first appearance on the program. He had visited Only in Monroe back in July 2015, when he interviewed Eminem just months before taking over The Late Show from David Letterman. Colbert had nodded to that earlier visit during Thursday's finale, calling it "technically our first show… for an audience of 12 people," and adding: "Show business being what it is these days, that's probably where you'll see me next."
Friday's episode leaned hard into Michigan local culture. Jack White served as volunteer musical director. Actor Jeff Daniels appeared to make a sandwich he had described during a Late Show appearance in March, consisting of peanut butter, hand-crumbled Ruffles, and Sweet Baby Ray's barbecue sauce. Steve Buscemi appeared in a public service announcement for Buscemi's Pizza, a Michigan chain with which he has no actual connection. "All I know is Buscemi's exists. I exist. We have the same name. And that's where any connection ends," he said.
Colbert also had a FaceTime conversation with Detroit native Byron Allen, who has taken over the Late Show time slot with back-to-back episodes of his syndicated Comics Unleashed. The regular hosts of Only in Monroe joined Colbert in drinking shots of Cain & Grain whiskey from the River Raisin Distillery in Manchester.
The episode closed with Colbert, White, and Daniels destroying and then burning the set in a flaming dumpster. Eminem, born in nearby St. Joseph, Michigan, appeared via video to give the fire marshal's all-clear for the blaze.
Colbert's 11-year run at The Late Show ended Thursday with a finale that included a performance from Bruce Springsteen and the E Street Band, tributes from former presidents and celebrities, and a final monologue focused on the state of American democracy.
Only in Monroe had hinted at Colbert's return in a recent Instagram post, though the filming date was not disclosed.
