AP Exclusive: Colbert celebrates US troops’ return from Iraq with VP Biden, beer, hot dogs

AP Exclusive: Colbert, VP Biden fete US troops

NEW YORK — Comedian Stephen Colbert (kohl-BEHR’) is giving troops returning from Iraq his own peculiar kind of homecoming — with Vice President Joe Biden and even a tank.

Colbert filled the studio audience of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report” on Wednesday night with veterans and active troops. He lavished them with beer and ice cream.

Biden served hot dogs from a vending cart. Outgoing U.S. military commander in Iraq Gen. Ray Odierno (oh-dee-EHR’-noh) donned a toupee of Colbert’s hair.

Colbert declared it an evening “for the troops.”

Colbert’s bizarre and comedic yet earnest celebration was titled “Been There: Won That: The Returnification of the American-Do Troopscape.” The comedian opened the two-episode special atop a tank, which rolled down a street outside his show’s New York studio.