The first night of his official TV Retirement, as in, the evening following the daylight hours after the final episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert aired, Colbert resurfaced.

On TV.

Not on cable, though.

Claiming it had been a “torturous” 23 hours without being on television, Colbert showed up to host the Monroe Community Media local channel show, Only In Monroe, on a public access station in Monroe, Michigan.

He’d done it once before. In 2015.

That time it was a jokey test run before he took over The Late Show.

This time it was - maybe not a victory lap, but certainly a “the guy’s still got it” proof-appearance.

And, most of all, he looked like he was having so much fun.

He reported some news to the team of volunteer camera people who occasionally (and noticeably) laughed at jokes in what otherwise was soundstage silence.

He brought Jack White with him to be the house band/DJ, and of course White brought a a vintage setup of what can best be described as some tapes and a reel to reel machine.

It was a flex. To have a rock star on cable access pushing play and pause into breaks. White owned it, too. Paul Shaffer eat your heart out. They had banter. I am still laughing thinking about White’s sasquatch mating pool knowledge.

And he brought back the original 2 hosts of the show from the time he stole their spot in 2015 to have a segment where they did shots of local booze, collectively called Bigfoot, and took hits of helium to complete an interview.

It was local access quality.

It was peak FUN.

This might be the most inspiring thing I’ve seen in a while.

The stakes are low. The intentions are high.

Anybody could do this.

Well, theoretically anyone, because - Colbert does make it look easy.

That’s a risky part of getting too inspired by this. He doesn’t have to try to be this much fun, it just happens when he’s in that seat and the camera’s on.

But the reminder - that you can just do something like this - watching him on public television in Michigan is to see him come full circle with where he was before any of the fame or notoriety.

I see this and my brain goes - stop thinking so big.

Do small, do it this well, and it’s still magic.

Don’t retire until you’re actually too tired. Until then, have some fun.