{"id":483388,"date":"2026-06-04T21:53:08","date_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:53:08","guid":{"rendered":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/483388\/"},"modified":"2026-06-04T21:53:08","modified_gmt":"2026-06-04T21:53:08","slug":"stephen-colbert-has-raised-thousands-of-dollars-for-the-public-access-station-behind-only-in-monroe","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/483388\/","title":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert Has Raised Thousands Of Dollars For The Public Access Station Behind ‘Only In Monroe’"},"content":{"rendered":"

Stephen Colbert<\/a> is still making a splash on the airwaves nearly two weeks after bidding farewell<\/a> to \u201cThe Late Show.\u201d<\/p>\n

The former host has used his old CBS program\u2019s eBay store<\/a> to raise thousands of dollars for Monroe Community Media<\/a>, the nonprofit organization behind the Michigan-based public access show \u201cOnly In Monroe.\u201d<\/p>\n

Back in 2015, Colbert served as a guest host of the show and interviewed \u201clocal Michiganer\u201d Eminem<\/a> just before he kicked off his 11-year run at \u201cThe Late Show.\u201d Last month, he returned to \u201cOnly in Monroe\u201d<\/a> less than 24 hours after he wrapped his program in the Ed Sullivan Theater.<\/p>\n

During his latest hosting gig, Colbert interviewed permanent hosts Kaye Lani Wilson and Michelle Baumann while sliding in a parting jab at Paramount, CBS\u2019s parent company that stripped him of his late-night program for \u201cpurely financial reasons.\u201d<\/p>\n

He also recruited star guests like former White Stripes frontman Jack White and actor Jeff Daniels to help destroy<\/a> the public access show\u2019s set with sledgehammers before burning some of it in a dumpster outside the studio.<\/p>\n

And the made-for-public-access-TV destruction is paying off.<\/p>\n

Just this week, Colbert has auctioned<\/a> off<\/a> autographed items on eBay such as destroyed set pieces, his mug<\/a> from the 2026 episode, as well as scripts from his 2026<\/a> and 2015 appearances<\/a>.<\/p>\n

The auctions have netted more than $15,000 for Monroe Community Media, the organization\u2019s creative director, Genevieve Benson, told Detroit ABC affiliate WXYZ-TV<\/a>.<\/p>\n

\u201cThat is a major game changer,\u201d said Benson, who noted that the station made operations manager Jerry Gysin a full-time employee as a result.<\/p>\n

Outside of the auctioned items, WXYZ-TV reported Colbert also donated some equipment from \u201cThe Late Show\u201d to the Monroe studio.<\/p>\n

Benson revealed that the \u201cOnly In Monroe\u201d set was \u201cliterally the same\u201d as the one Colbert used the first time he appeared in the studio in 2015.<\/p>\n

Gysin told WXYZ-TV the Colbert-led destruction offers a chance for the station to build a new set from the old pieces.<\/p>\n

\u201cIt was kind of an exciting thing; it was one era ending and a new one beginning,\u201d he said.<\/p>\n

Benson stressed that public-access centers across the country are \u201csuffering from financial loss.\u201d<\/p>\n

\u201cI was so grateful that they did destroy [the set] for us because we couldn\u2019t afford a dumpster for ourselves, and to see it burst into flames was so beautiful. It\u2019s so beautiful,\u201d she said.<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"Stephen Colbert is still making a splash on the airwaves nearly two weeks after bidding farewell to \u201cThe…\n","protected":false},"author":2,"featured_media":483389,"comment_status":"","ping_status":"","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":{"footnotes":""},"categories":[32],"tags":[321,93,61,60,22289,207956,155475,207955,1138],"class_list":["post-483388","post","type-post","status-publish","format-standard","has-post-thumbnail","category-celebrities","tag-celebrities","tag-entertainment","tag-ie","tag-ireland","tag-michigan","tag-monroe-community-media","tag-monroe-county","tag-public-access-tv","tag-stephen-colbert"],"_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483388","targetHints":{"allow":["GET"]}}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/2"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=483388"}],"version-history":[{"count":0,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/483388\/revisions"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/483389"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=483388"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=483388"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/www.newsbeep.com\/ie\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=483388"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}