S5·E68 Bernie Sanders, Penn Badgley

Episode recap

The episode identified as season 5, episode 68 of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert presents the program’s regular format of a late‑night comedy and interview series hosted by Stephen Colbert. The series, which premiered in 2015 and continues into 2026, is produced and scripted by Colbert and is broadcast live to tape in most American markets Monday through Thursday at 11:35 p.m. Eastern Time, according to its Wikipedia entry. As a comedy‑talk hybrid, the show typically opens with a monologue that blends current‑event satire with Colbert’s signature humor, followed by a series of guest interviews and occasional musical or comedic segments.

In this installment, the guest roster consists of two public figures: Bernie Sanders, described in the episode synopsis as a democratic presidential hopeful, and Penn Badgley, identified as an actor. The synopsis from The Movie Database confirms that Stephen Colbert “welcomes” both guests during the broadcast. No additional details about the content of their appearances are provided in the source material, so the episode’s focus can be stated only as featuring conversations with Sanders and Badgley.

Given the show’s established structure, the presence of a political figure such as Sanders would place the episode within the program’s tradition of engaging with current political discourse, while the inclusion of an actor like Badgley aligns with its practice of featuring entertainment industry guests. The episode therefore continues the series’ pattern of juxtaposing political commentary with pop‑culture conversation, all framed by Colbert’s comedic approach.

No further specifics regarding interview topics, comedic bits, or ancillary segments are supplied in the available sources, and thus are omitted. The episode’s placement as the sixty‑eighth entry of the fifth season situates it within the broader run of the series, which consistently delivers a blend of satire, interview, and late‑night entertainment to its national audience.