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Under the bright studio lights of The Late Show, Stephen Colbert kicked off the evening with playful Super Bowl banter—torn between rooting for the Kansas City Chiefs’ Patrick Mahomes and the San Francisco 49ers’ Brock Purdy—but pivoted to somber news that weighed heavily on fans nationwide. Last night, country music titan Toby Keith lost his battle with stomach cancer at 62, and Colbert, who’d grown unexpectedly close to the Oklahoma-born singer, took a quiet beat before delving into a heartfelt tribute.
Colbert recalled their first meeting years ago when he—half-jokingly armed with a plan to needle Keith over his rowdy anthem “Courtesy of the Red, White and Blue”—found himself instantly disarmed by the star’s warmth. “He turned in the hallway and said, ‘Hey man, you do a great job, whatever it is you do,’” Colbert remembered, his voice softening. That offhand compliment became the stuff of office legend: embroidered on a pillow by Colbert’s head writer, it still rests on his desk as a daily reminder not to prejudge a guest but to stay open to who they truly are.
From oil-rig worker to chart-topping songwriter—with 20 No. 1 hits, 42 Top 10 singles, and a string of platinum albums—Toby Keith epitomized the self-made American dream. Colbert celebrated Keith’s unapologetic patriotism, his knack for capturing blue-collar life in song, and his fearless authenticity, whether performing stadium-filling anthems or standing for President Obama’s Nobel acceptance speech. In closing, Colbert extended an open invitation: if you’re brokenhearted over Toby’s passing—no matter your background or beliefs—come together in shared remembrance. After all, as Colbert put it, “Tonight, we’re all just fans saying goodbye to a great man.”