Stephen Colbert corrects his audience's confused reaction to Comey firing

In a funny example of narrative confusion, late night host Stephen Colbert appeared disappointed and surprised when his audience applauded enthusiastically at the news that President Donald Trump had fired FBI Director James Comey on Tuesday.

"Story that broke minutes ago, like less than 10 minutes ago," Colbert told his audience, "FBI Director James Comey has just been fired by Donald Trump."

The audience cheered wildly, apparently believing this was a blow for the Trump administration. Colbert laughed through his surprise, but corrected the audience with a joke at their expense.

"Oh well, huge, huge Donald Trump fans here tonight!" he quipped.

Despite the confusion, he persisted with his monologue mocking Trump.

"That shows no gratitude at all," Colbert said. "I mean, did Trump forget about the Hillary [Clinton] emails that Comey talked about?"

"Thanks for the presidency, Jimmy," Colbert continued in an impression of Trump, "now don't let the door hit you where the electoral college split ya."

The audience regained its composure and had the presence of mind to boo when they heard the name of U.S. Attorney General Jeff Sessions.

Stephen Colbert breaks Comey news to studio audience, they loudly cheer before being corrected by the comedian pic.twitter.com/8vUtc7fqFS

— Breaking911 (@Breaking911) May 10, 2017

Trump supporters mocked Colbert, an avid critic of Trump, for the funny interaction:

Colbert's audience thinks for itself, cheers Comey's dismissal; Colbert corrects their wrongthink. #MAGA pic.twitter.com/QQwQIN4xZc

— James W Styles (@Jules_J_007) May 10, 2017

> liberals don't make their own opinions

when AUDIENCE CHEERS #COMEY FIRING BEFORE COLBERT 'CORRECTS' the narrative pic.twitter.com/HA332W2xBN

— AWooooooO (@WanAwo0o0) May 10, 2017

Colbert's audience of loyal leftists briefly forgot they were supposed to stop hating Comey once Trump fired him. https://t.co/FIGETA4k5k

— Brian Carey (@brianmcarey) May 10, 2017

Don't freak tho guys, Colbert fixes this case of wrongthink over Trump firing #Comey pretty quickly...https://t.co/wHNBxdslQl

— Muh Tweets (@Srazash) May 10, 2017

I like how the sheep in Colbert's audience cheered at Comey's firing. They're playing catch up to the narrative. pic.twitter.com/H0ATEmIEWo

— Ian Miles Cheong (@stillgray) May 10, 2017

Comey was fired Tuesday, prompting many liberals to cry foul and accuse Trump of trying to derail an investigation into alleged collusion between the Trump campaign and the Russian government before the 2016 election. The administration said in a statement that Comey was fired over improper actions in the investigation into Clinton's private email server.