I went to a Colbert show filming in New York a couple years back, a friend had tickets. They literally picked out me & my friends to sit up close to the stage because we weren't white. I'd only seen clips online - in reality, there were so many outtakes of Colbert breaking character and rerunning his lines. They divvied up the crowd, it looked as if most were on payroll as they were far too giddy & laughed on cue. Colbert wrapped up by saying he couldn't run the aisle and touch the hands of the audience as he'd got the sniffles. That was the first and last time I watched late night in full - total dog & pony show.