Stephen Colbert took aim at Donald Trump over his remarks to the Artemis II astronauts, criticizing how the President described the historic space mission despite the fact that similar language has been widely used in media coverage.
“The President called into the mission, and it went kind of how you’d expect,” the late-night host said during Tuesday’s monologue on The Late Show. A longtime Trump critic, Stephen Colbert mocked the President’s enthusiastic comments during the call with the Artemis II crew, The Wrap reports.
Stephen Colbert Calls Out Trump for ‘Moonsplaining’ Space Travel History to Artemis II Astronauts | Video https://t.co/YLJOtPY0JC
— TheWrap (@TheWrap) April 8, 2026
Colbert specifically focused on Trump noting that no astronaut has traveled “to the moon since the days of the Apollo program,” portraying the statement as unnecessary and labeling it “moonsplaining.”
“Why is he moonsplaining the Apollo program to actual astronauts?” Colbert said, before launching into an impression of Trump: “Hello. Yeah, it says here Apollo was 50 years ago. Haven’t been to the moon since. And these are just bullet points. Feel free to put it in your own words. Whatever you do, don’t read exactly what’s on this piece of paper or you will sound insane.”
While nearly every journalist here on planet Earth has said a variation of the same thing about the historic mission on air or when interviewing the astronauts, Stephen Colbert chose to single out Trump in the “moonsplaining” monologue.
Stephen Colbert also zeroed in on what he described as an unusual question from Donald Trump during the call with Artemis II astronauts Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch, and Jeremy Hansen. Trump asked the crew how they felt during the period when they were out of communication with mission control, saying, “What was your feeling at that moment when no one could ask you any questions?”
Colbert mocked the question during his monologue, continuing his Trump impression, “Even the questions inside your own head, those terrible shrieking voices in your skull, and you could finally just sit there and enjoy your cookie. Was it a good cookie?”
The clock is running out for Stephen Colbert to mock President Trump, at least on his own late night television show. CBS is moving forward with programming plans to fill its soon-to-be-empty 11: 35 p.m. slot when The Late Show with Stephen Colbert comes to an end.
The network said Monday that Comics Unleashed with Byron Allen will take over the hour starting May 22 — the day after Colbert airs his last episode. The half-hour show will air two episodes back-to-back in order to program for a full hour.
The 12: 35 a.m. hour will be occupied by Funny You Should Ask, a comedy game show created by Allen. Jon Kelley will host. The network had already been airing “Comics Unleashed” in the 12:35 a.m. hour since September. It took over that time slot after CBS canceled game show After Midnight. Stephen Colbert’s show premiered back in September 2015.
The move was first announced less than a year ago when CBS said Stephen Colbert would wrap up his tenure on the network Thursday, May 21. Late last year, CBS cited “continuing financial losses” in late night as part of the reason for Stephen Colbert’s cancellation. Traditional late-night shows have been hit hard by diminishing ad dollars and changes in consumer behavior.
Following CBS’ cancellation of ‘The Late Show With Stephen Colbert,’ the network announced Byron Allen’s ‘Comics Unleased’ will fill the 11:35 p.m. late-night time slot starting May 22. https://t.co/WvzJRBeka2 pic.twitter.com/GPmur72CDF
— E! News (@enews) April 6, 2026
Alternative late-night shows like Fox News’ Gutfeld! with Greg Gutfeld have routinely beaten out traditional late-night offerings in total viewers. Last year, Gutfeld! topped competitors on more nights than any other late-night host.
