Stephen Colbert was well into his farewell media tour when he told GQ, “I think I'm more conservative than people think.” However, according to an aggregation of previous NewsBusters studies and quote packages, that is far from true. Since NewsBusters began counting jokes in January 2023, 87 percent of Colbert's political jokes have targeted conservatives. Likewise, since September 2022, more than 99 percent of his political guests have been liberals. MRC President David Bozell said in a statement, “Good riddance to Colbert’s nightly group therapy session for progressive elitists who could not understand why half the country kept rejecting their worldview.”   "Republicans can eat a d**k." Good riddance! This clown is officially off the air! pic.twitter.com/pf1PCnbHHp — Media Research Center (@theMRC) May 22, 2026   Jokes Over the span of the final 458 Late Show episodes on CBS since January of 2023, NewsBusters logged 8,553 political jokes. Of these, Colbert told 7,480 (87 percent) about conservatives, 934 (11 percent) about liberals, and 139 (2 percent) about nonpartisan people or organizations. Colbert’s top ten most joked about people included only one Democrat. The top ten were Donald Trump (3,640), Joe Biden (339), George Santos (269), Robert F. Kennedy Jr. as a Republican (208), Republicans (180), JD Vance (151), Pete Hegseth (146), Elon Musk (143), Kristi Noem (106), and Rudy Giuliani (104).  NewsBusters analysts started identifying RFK Jr. as a Republican in 2024 after he endorsed Trump and was selected to be secretary of Health and Human Services. After,Joe Biden, former New York City Mayor Eric Adams and 2024 vice presidential nominee Tim Walz were the next Democrats on the list in a tie for 24th place with former Vice President Mike Pence at 40 total jokes. Former Vice President Kamala Harris tied for 41st place with 21 total jokes. It was not just current and former presidents and vice presidents. There are also wide discrepancies in how Colbert joked about other analogous liberal and conservative targets. Republicans (180) vs. Democrats (31) Conservatives (30) vs. Liberals (8) Fox News (73) and Newsmax (2) vs. CNN (4) and MSNBC/MS NOW (1) Mike Johnson (87) and Kevin McCarthy (76) vs. Nancy Pelosi (6) and Hakeem Jeffries (3) Melania Trump (100) vs. Jill Biden (2) Eric Trump (84) and Donald Trump Jr. (56) vs. Hunter Biden (4) Clarence Thomas (30), Samuel Alito (29), the Supreme Court’s conservative bloc (7), Brett Kavanaugh (5), John Roberts (1), Neil Gorsuch (1), Amy Coney Barrett (1) vs. Elena Kagan (1), Sonia Sotomayor (0), and Ketanji Brown Jackson (0), and the Supreme Court’s liberal bloc (0). Then there's the attitude. Colbert’s jokes about Republicans tended to be harsher than his ones about Democrats such as when he celebrated Trump being indicted, “Here in New York it was 40 degrees, but I still ate ice cream out of a baseball helmet. Why? Oh, just a little something worth celebrating today because literally three minutes before I walked out on this stage here, the New York Times reported a New York grand jury voted to indict former President Donald J. Trump. Oh! Oh! Come on! Come on! Thank you! Ladies and gentlemen! It’s right, he was-- ladies and gentlemen, he was right, we're finally saying Merry Christmas again.”  He could also throw around a Nazi analogy as easily as any MS NOW host, “Yes, do not compare ICE or Border Patrol agents to the Nazis. That’s an unfair comparison. The Nazis were willing to show their faces.” Colbert never celebrated any Democratic arrests by eating ice cream out of a baseball helmet or ever compared a Biden policy to the Nazis.     Guests Over the 511 Late Show episodes NewsBusters monitored for its guest count studies since November 2022, Colbert invited both the most and the highest percentage of liberal guests compared to other hosts. The final count came in at 263 liberals and one conservative, or more than 99 percent.  NewsBusters analysts classified a guest as liberal or conservative based off of what they told Colbert, their most recent job, or recent voting history, not necessarily how they self-identify. Therefore, former Rep. Adam Kinzinger’s four appearances and former Sen. Jeff Flake’s one appearance are counted as liberal appearances despite them being Republicans when they were in Congress. However, former GOP Rep. Liz Cheney still managed to make broadly conservative points in her December 2023 appearance, so she is listed as the lone Republican in this study, even if most conservatives would not want to claim her. A political guest was defined as any current or former elected politician, administration official, journalist, activist, or celebrity who talked about politics. Colbert had so many liberal guests since November 2022 that he formed a top ten most common guest list as well. That list featured John Oliver (10), John Dickerson (8), Anderson Cooper (8), Elizabeth Warren (6), Bernie Sanders (5), Pete Buttigieg (5), Jon Stewart (5), Adam Kinzinger (4), Jen Psaki (4), Rachel Maddow (4), Chris Hayes, and Seth Meyers (4). In total, Colbert had 50 political guests appear at least twice, and 20 appear at least three times. Democrats loved appearing with Colbert because it was a change for them to communicate directly with other liberals and help them get out the vote. For instance, Harris dropped by during the 2024 election to share a beer with Colbert, who gushed, “So, cheers, there you go. Ooh. Tastes like the beautiful city of Milwaukee, Wisconsin.” A month later, he urged Walz to give viewers a pep talk, “So, let’s bring it in, coach, for one final pep talk to the voters out there maybe haven’t made up their mind and if you can give that pep talk using as many of these sports clichés as possible, that would be great.” ***** Colbert’s fans lamented his downfall by claiming he was a man who spoke truth to power. They cited his battles with Trump, and before that, with George W. Bush. As different as the two presidents can be, the one thing they have in common is that they are both Republicans, and nobody ever praised Colbert for speaking truth to power when it came to Barack Obama or Joe Biden.