Currently engaged in constant resistance to President Donald Trump‘s administration and its aggressive agenda, the Democratic Party and the Left are enduring bleak and uncertain times. And their grim political state of affairs may turn them away from a tool vital to their recovery — a sense of humor.

The controversy surrounding the recent cancellation of Stephen Colbert‘s The Late Show largely ignored that a decade ago, the former Comedy Central star began his CBS 11:30 p.m. time slot career with a traditional, light entertainment hour. Over the years, Colbert’s episodes grew more serious and partisan until the CBS show often seemed more like Ted Koppel’s Nightline than Late Night with David Letterman.