RECAP: 'The Colbert Report' in Philadelphia, 4/15

We’re back with more coverage of ‘The Colbert Report’ TV taping in Philadelphia in lieu of the Pennsylvania primary in less than a week.

Local hip-hop group The Roots opened the show with a shredding punk rock version of the theme song. With John Legend last night and The Roots tonight, is the show going to have a musical guest every night? Who’s lined up for the rest of the week? Hall & Oates? The Hooters?

Thankfully, Ben Franklin is back again as a sidekick of sorts on the side stage and thankfully he is quickly disregarded for talking silly.

The popular running segment ‘The Word’ returns. Tonight it was “tradition”.

Says Colbert: “Personally I love being condescended to. And so do the wonderful people of Pennsylvania.” And with that he produces a jersey of all four major Philly sports teams. Thundering applause.

Stephen Colbert the comedian works very hard to make sure he never breaks the character of Stephen Colbert the conservative political pundit. The whole show is based off of this premise. So you just have to love how Colbert can’t help but to grin at some of the jokes, in a way of saying “this one is pretty damn funny”. As he compared Clinton telling the tale of her father teaching her how to shoot a gun to Dick Cheney having a similar story, he couldn’t help smiling at the punchline: “only his [gun story] ends with shooting his father in the face.”

Time for a video segment! Colbert hits the streets to find out what Philadelphia is really about. He visits the Liberty Bell and Independence Hall. Why not the hidden secrets like Johnny Brenda’s or that one DJ night that no one has heard about?

Back to the steps of the Art Museum, but the show is smart enough to skewer the cliché of running up the steps. And no mentions of cheese steaks still.

Good Michelle Obama interview, but a little bland. Colbert took the opportunity to continue to plead for Barack to come on the show, we’ll see if it works.

After the last commercial break, The Roots closed it out with a Hendrix-esque version of the ‘Star Spangled Banner’ before smashing their guitars. And that’s it. No word yet on who the guests will be for Wednesday’s show (Clinton is set for the finale on Thursday).

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