Stephen Colbert's Surprise “Only in Monroe” Return Went Viral — Then CBS Tried to Take It Down
Stephen Colbert's surprise return to Michigan public access television went viral over the weekend — and then CBS briefly made things awkward by trying to take it down.
Less than 24 hours after his Late Show finale aired Thursday night, Colbert turned up Friday on Only in Monroe, a public access program on Monroe Community Media in Monroe, Michigan. It was a full-circle moment — Colbert had famously hosted the same show once in 2015, just before taking over the Late Show from David Letterman. The one-hour special was a hit, spreading rapidly across YouTube and social media and generating exactly the kind of warm, nostalgic goodwill that fit the moment perfectly.
Then CBS started sending copyright takedown notices — and the internet turned on them almost immediately.
What Happened With the Takedowns
Several third-party YouTube accounts had uploaded clips and full versions of the Only in Monroe episode before Colbert launched an official YouTube channel to host it. One upload by The Desk had drawn more than 620,000 views by Monday, outpacing the official version on Colbert's newly launched personal page. When CBS began issuing copyright notices to those accounts, fans erupted. Many accused Paramount — CBS's parent company — of trying to suppress the content out of spite, or of attempting to erase Colbert's post-Late Show presence.
The reality, as CBS explained, was more mundane: routine copyright enforcement. The episode was financed and produced by CBS Studios, making it the network's intellectual property, and the standard practice for major media companies is to pursue unauthorized uploads of content they own.
"As is our regular practice, we send copyright notices to unauthorized websites that post copyrighted content from CBS and our network/studio talent such as Stephen Colbert," a CBS spokesperson said in a statement. "However, for this episode, we have decided to waive further enforcement of this standard industry practice until further review."
In other words — they backed down.
The Irony Layer
The episode itself made the CBS backlash feel even more tone-deaf to fans. During his Only in Monroe appearance, Colbert had openly mocked CBS and Paramount, taking shots at the corporate structure he was now free of. For the network to then turn around and issue copyright strikes against fans sharing that content — content in which he was roasting his former employers — struck many viewers as precisely the kind of corporate overreach Colbert had spent 11 years lampooning.
Former CBS executive Derek Reisfield, who co-founded MarketWatch, offered a more measured read of the situation. "It looks like CBS' Legal Department was following its standard procedures," he told the New York Post, noting that networks routinely move to protect copyrighted material posted without authorization.He also raised a separate question: "The real question in my mind is why Stephen Colbert didn't just do it on his own and have a clean break with CBS," Reisfield told The Post.
What Only in Monroe Was
For viewers who missed the backstory, Only in Monroe is a genuine public access program that has aired on Monroe Community Media for years. Colbert's 2015 appearance — made just before his Late Show debut — gave the show a brief moment of national attention. His return this weekend, timed so precisely to the morning after his final Late Show taping, was a deliberate and well-executed callback that landed exactly as intended with fans.
The full episode is now available on Colbert's official YouTube channel. CBS has confirmed it will not pursue further takedowns while it reviews its position on the matter.
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