The 2016 Olympics in Rio have come to an end, but discussion of the Ryan Lochte situation is bound to continue. An awful lot of the post-Olympics buzz has been more about Lochte's now-refuted story about being robbed in Rio than about all of the athletes who took home medals. Stephen Colbert of The Late Show has his own take on the fiasco, and it's way funnier than a lot of the other news coverage. Jeah!
The Ryan Lochte story - dubbed #Lochtegate on Twitter - is weird enough that a lot of us may have really needed the laughs from the Late Show clip. What started as an account of an unfortunate robbery snowballed into a scandal as Rio officials poked more and more holes into Lochte's claims. The big question has been: Why on earth Lochte would lie about a gunpoint robbery when it would be super easy for the story to fall apart? Well, we have the answer: he wasn't lying. Lochte said that he was actually "over-exaggerating." Luckily, he said it in time for Stephen Colbert to mock the answer perfectly on The Late Show.
Stephen Colbert had been on vacation for a couple of weeks, so we didn't get to see his reactions to the Ryan Lochte situation as it unfolded from the beginning. Considering that NBC was bound to dominate the ratings during the Olympics, the timing must have been perfect for CBS to air Late Show reruns and give Colbert the time off. I'm just glad he came back in time to jab at Lochte's protest that he had only been over-exaggerating.
My favorite part of the clip might actually be that a comedian as experienced as Stephen Colbert didn't have to do much more than crack a grin to make his commentary worth a few laughs. Ryan Lochte set up the joke himself; Colbert just had to deliver the punchline. All the hair dye in the world couldn't have stopped Lochte from becoming the butt of all manner of late night jokes, and Stephen Colbert's are definitely worth a re-watch.
Unfortunately for Ryan Lochte, his "over-exaggeration" about the Rio incident is bound to overshadow the gold medal that he took home after taking part in 4x200 meter freestyle relay. Americans can at least be relieved that Lochte was only one of many U.S. athletes to take home medals. There were still plenty of U.S. highlights at the Rio Olympics that weren't ruined by the Lochte lowlight. Other countries had some more serious mishaps that cost them potential medals, as well. Check out this diver who literally flopped and this weightlifter who snapped under pressure for looks at athletes whose misfortunes actually happened during the Games. The new supercut of Olympics news bloopers deserves a look, as well.
The 2016 Olympics have concluded, so take a look at our fall TV premiere schedule to see what you'll be able to watch on the small screen in the near future. You can see more of Stephen Colbert as host of The Late Show on weeknights at 11:35 p.m. ET.
