Stephen Colbert continued his streak of inviting liberal heroes on to The Late Show on CBS on Wednesday as he invited Dr. Fauci on to discuss his career and the pandemic. Over the course of three segments, Colbert would not only ask Fauci when the pandemic will be over, but looked back at the time in 2020 when he hyped a pretention to name Fauci the sexiest man alive.
The cringe-inducing trip down memory lane came in the second segment when Colbert recalled that “NatGeo made -- National Geographic-- made a documentary about you, and I was honored when I heard that a clip of us talking about you was included in it. I'd like to watch it right now to see what we contributed to the narrative while our country was facing this time of crisis.”
A clip from the documentary that included part of the April 2, 2020, edition of The Late Show where CBS’s Gayle King was shown asking Fauci, “People magazine, there's a petition to make you Sexiest Man Alive because people say brains are sexy. I'm wondering how you're-- what your family thinks about all of this.”
After Fauci responded by declaring that he doesn’t pay attention to such things, Colbert, also on April 2, 2020, creepily responded, “That is so humble. And so sexy. Jim, can we put Fauci back up? Can we get a wider shot? Oh, yeah! The National Institutes of Hotness! Just try to stay six feet away.”
That was in 2020, back in 2022 and earlier in the interview, Colbert recalled that, “President Biden said recently the pandemic is over. It doesn't feel over. For instance, Jimmy, we got a shot of this? For instance, this audience right here, everybody here is still in their masks right here, just for an abundance of safety.”
After showing a shot of the fully masked audience, Colbert asked, “So, as you can see, every night I come out here, it doesn't feel over to me. When will it feel over?”
Fauci responded that it will end when that is no longer required, “You know, it will feel over in the real sense when it gets to such a low level in society that it doesn't disrupt the social order, the way it is here, requiring people to wear masks, all kinds of things like that. What the president was referring to is that the very acute fulminant stage of the outbreak, when we were getting 900,000 cases a day and 3-to-4,000 deaths, that's not where we are right now.”
That moment will at some undefined point in the future, “I don't feel comfortable at all with saying we can live with 400 deaths a day. We have got to get the level of infection and the level of deaths and hospitalizations far, far lower so that it is not eradicated -- we're not going to completely get rid of this. But we want to get it to a level that's so low it just doesn't disrupt society.”
Somebody should tell Colbert and Fauci that The Late Show is one of the last holdouts when it comes to letting go of mask mandates.
This segment was sponsored by Energizer.
Here is a transcript for the October 5 show:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
10/5/2022
11:55 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: President Biden said recently the pandemic is over. It doesn't feel over. For instance, Jimmy, we got a shot of this? For instance, this audience right here, everybody here is still in their masks right here, just for an abundance of safety.
ANTHONY FAUCI: Yeah.
COLBERT: So, as you can see, every night I come out here, it doesn't feel over to me. When will it feel over?
FAUCI: You know, it will feel over in the real sense when it gets to such a low level in society that it doesn't disrupt the social order, the way it is here, requiring people to wear masks, all kinds of things like that. What the president was referring to is that the very acute fulminant stage of the outbreak, when we were getting 900,000 cases a day and 3-to-4,000 deaths, that's not where we are right now.
We're way down in cases, but we're also way down in deaths. But the level that we're at, Stephen, is not really acceptable. I don't feel comfortable at all with saying we can live with 400 deaths a day. We have got to get the level of infection and the level of deaths and hospitalizations far, far lower so that it is not eradicated -- we're not going to completely get rid of this. But we want to get it to a level that's so low it just doesn't disrupt society.
…
12:08 AM ET
COLBERT: NatGeo made -- National Geographic-- made a documentary about you, and I was honored when I heard that a clip of us talking about—
FAUCI: Yeah.
COLBERT: -- you was included in it. I'd like to watch it right now to see what we contributed to the narrative while our country was facing this time of crisis. Jim.
GAYLE KING [APRIL 2, 2020]: People magazine, there's a petition to make you Sexiest Man Alive because people say brains are sexy. I'm wondering how you're-- what your family thinks about all of this.
FAUCI [APRIL 2, 2020]: It's really kind of crazy. We try not to pay attention to that and just focus on the responsibility and the job that we have. That's the most important thing, not that other stuff.
COLBERT [APRIL 2, 2020]: That is so humble. And so sexy. Jim, can we put Fauci back up? Can we get a wider shot? Oh, yeah! The National Institutes of Hotness! Just try to stay six feet away.
