plus, stephen welcomes chris hayes and carrie preston.turing louis cato and "the late show" band. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater in new york city, it's stephen colbert! [cheers and applause] ♪ ♪ >> stephen: beautiful. good to see you. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. welcome very welcome in here, out there, mr. and mrs. america and all the ships at sea to "the late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert. [cheering] there is -- everybody knows. everybody's heard this. big news from washington today, because this just -- this just happened this afternoon, right? just a little while ago, mitch mcconnell announced he will step down as the senate's republican leader. [cheering] but, um, but is this true? he's not stepping down till november, because at 82, that's how long it takes him to step. mcconnell made his announcement on the senate floor and then took a fond shamble down memory lane. >> my career in the united states senate began amidst the reagan revolution. the truth is, when i got here, i was just happy if anybody