Stephen Colbert taken aback as Jon Stewart pushes coronavirus lab leak theory on 'The Late Show'

Jon Stewart was the first guest as The Late Show With Stephen Colbert returned to the iconic Ed Sullivan Theater Monday, for the first time in 15 months due to the coronavirus pandemic. Colbert was taken aback as Stewart began to speak about what he believes to be the origin of the coronavirus, espousing the lab leak theory, which is a popular talking point in conservative media.

“I think we owe a great debt of gratitude to science,” Stewart said. “Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.” “Do you mean perhaps there’s a chance that this was created in a lab?” Colbert asked. “A chance?” Stewart replied. “There’s a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China, what do we do? Oh, you know who we could ask? The Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab. The disease is the same name as the lab! That’s just a little too weird!”

Video Transcript

JON STEWART: Science has, in many ways, helped ease the suffering of this pandemic, which was more than likely caused by science.

KYLIE MAR: The Late Show with Stephen Colbert made its triumphant return to the Ed Sullivan Theater Monday, welcoming former Daily Show host, Jon Stewart, as the first guest in the iconic theater in 15 months. And Stewart surprised Colbert when he revealed that he believes COVID-19 came from a lab in Wuhan, China, a popular talking point among conservatives.

STEPHEN COLBERT: If there's evidence, I'd love to hear. I just don't know.

JON STEWART: There's a novel respiratory coronavirus overtaking Wuhan, China. What do we do? Oh, you know, we could ask the Wuhan novel respiratory coronavirus lab. The disease is the same name as the lab.

KYLIE MAR: Authorities in China have long rejected the lab leak theory that Stewart espouses, standing behind claims that the coronavirus came from bats. But Stewart isn't buying it.

JON STEWART: There's a coronavirus lose in Wuhan? How did that happen? Maybe a bat flew into the cloaca of a turkey and then it sneezed into my chili, and now, we all have coronavirus. Like, come on.

KYLIE MAR: But Colbert pushed back, offering a different point of view.

STEPHEN COLBERT: It could be possible that they have the lab in Wuhan to study the novel coronavirus diseases. Because in Wuhan, there are a lot of novel coronavirus diseases because of the bat population there.

KYLIE MAR: And since he clearly wasn't going to convince Colbert, Stewart decided to speak directly to the American people.

JON STEWART: When I realized that the laboratory was having the same name, first name and last name, of the evil that had been plaguing us, I thought to myself [BEEP].