"The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon" may be pummeling Stephen Colbert in the ratings, but the new "Late Show" host is proving his worth with informed and thoughtful interviews. He even played moderator on Thursday when two unruly audience members started to protest against Colbert's second guest, Uber CEO Travis Kalanick.
"The Late Show" cut the interruption from the broadcast, but Colbert reportedly handled the situation deftly and without having to remove the two men from the theater, USA Today reported.
Several other audience members tweeted about the awkward event and praised Colbert for how he handled the situation. The protesters shouted down from the balcony and argued that Uber was hurting the New York City taxi industry.
An audience member named Sarah tweeted that she thought it was a planned bit but realized it wasn't when "the crew started looking around frantically." Colbert kept his cool, though, and let the man air his grievances. When he finished, the host told him that he planned on asking a similar question and then turned to Kalanick and asked it.
The same thing happened again five minutes later, but when the Uber head tried to engage, Colbert touched his arm and told the man in the balcony that he would ask his question but "in a more respectful way."
Colbert also warned the audience to not tweet about the Uber interview in case they had to cut it, audience member Jeremy Nguyen tweeted.
The interview with Kalanick came after a poignant conversation with Vice President Joe Biden, who spoke publicly for the first time since the passing of his oldest son, Beau. He spoke candidly about how faith played a role in his grieving and shared his hesitations about running for president again in the wake of his son's death.
