Stephen Colbert wasn’t impressed with CBS Evening News host Tony Dokoupil’s Tuesday interview with President Trump.
In his monologue Wednesday, Colbert explained how Dokoupil spoke with Trump during his trip to Detroit, with the interview taking place in an active assembly line.
“They covered pressing topics like the economy, Minnesota, and Iran,” Colbert said. He quickly clarified, “I think, because the whole thing sounded like this…”
Colbert showed a clip from the interview, in which the background noise nearly drowned out what both Trump and Dokoupil were saying.
Colbert jokingly yelled out, “What?! I can’t hear you! You’re standing on an active Ford assembly line! Why are you doing that!? Was Niagara Falls booked!?”
Colbert added, “There hasn’t been a presidential interview this noisy since Frost sat down with Nixon inside a cement mixer.”
CBS Evening News, Tony Dokoupil interviewing Trump CBS
Colbert’s criticism of the interview comes after weeks of backlash to Dokoupil’s run as the new CBS Evening News host.
Dokoupil, who had been best known for his stunningly combative interview with author Ta-Nehisi Coates in September 2024, was controversially hired to host Evening News by new CBS editor-in-chief Bari Weiss. Weiss’s goal was reportedly to make the network more MAGA-friendly.
Dokoupil’s gaffe-heavy first episode on January 5 was widely panned by critics. Dokoupil has since struggled to counter the idea that he’s unqualified for such a prime-time position, and CBS Evening News’ viewership numbers have declined as an apparent result.
Colbert himself is a CBS employee, although CBS canceled his show in July 2025. His final episode ever is slated for May 2026.
In his final season, Colbert’s grown increasingly comfortable with criticizing his company. During a New Year’s Eve interview with Andy Cohen, Colbert revealed a major lesson he learned from 2025, one that was interpreted by fans as a veiled critique of CBS:
“Don’t trust billionaires,” Colbert said. “They don’t get rich by finding that money on the side of the road.”