PRAISE BE

Stephen Colbert Questions If God Really Does Believe in Mike Pence

The ‘Late Show’ host broke down a recent, eye-opening profile of the vice president in The Atlantic by journalist McKay Coppins.

“Hey, fun fact: did you know there’s also a vice president?”

Stephen Colbert posed that very question on The Late Show Friday night. And it wasn’t just a cheeky dig at President Trump’s media ubiquity, but rather a nod to an excellent profile of Vice President Pence that ran in The Atlantic this week, courtesy of journalist McKay Coppins.

The piece, titled “God’s Plan for Mike Pence,” examined the former Indiana governor’s religiosity (he is a devout Christian) against Donald “Two Corinthians” Trump, one of the more impious presidents in American history (he famously conducted an affair while his first wife, Ivana, took their three young children to church services).

Colbert marveled at the many “juicy nuggets” in The Atlantic’s profile, including Pence admitting that he was a “fat little kid” and some of his “crazy college shenanigans.”

“You see, back then his college fraternity threw a keg party, which attracted the attention of one of the deans. So his frat brothers scrambled to hide the kegs and the plastic cups, but then Mike Pence met the administrator at the door, led the dean straight to the kegs, and admitted that they belonged to the fraternity. The resulting punishment was severe: yes, the frat was never allowed to hold another frat party…is what they told Mike Pence,” cracked Colbert.

The late-night host also noted the profile’s claim that “Pence didn’t have a reputation for legislative acumen [in Congress]…and some of his colleagues called him a nickname behind his back: ‘Mike Dense.’”

Cue Colbert: “Ha-ha! And I hope soon he’ll be President Dense.”

He added: “But what really comes through in this piece is Pence’s belief that he’s doing the lord’s work. As the article puts it, ‘What critics should worry about is not that Pence believes in God, but that he seems so certain God believes in him.’”

This led the comedian to pose the question: “And I, for one, can’t help but wonder if God really does believe in Mike Pence.”

Colbert then threw to his animated God character, who appears in the ceiling of the Ed Sullivan Theater. And according to God, the results are…inconclusive.

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