An informational video on cicadas made by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County which went viral caught the eye of Stephen Colbert…and garnered him a special invitation from the forest preserve district in return.
Local cicada video highlighted on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
Colbert highlighted the video on his show on Wednesday, May 8.
It started with a poke at CNN, saying with Donald Trump’s criminal trial taking a pause for the day, the network was now covering the “second most important story” in the country, “Informational Video Goes Viral Ahead of Cicada Invasion.”
The video being referred to is an informational piece produced by the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, called “The Life Cycle of a 17-Year Cicada.” In the piece, the emergence of cicadas is depicted using humans, acting out the bugs’ behavior. To date, it’s gotten more than 350,000 views on TikTok.
Colbert then played a clip from the forest preserve district’s video, saying “this one must be pretty special to have gone viral.”
After playing the clip, Colbert remarked “oh, to be a winged insect on the wall during that production meeting.” He gave a shout-out to it being created by “famed director of the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, Illinois,” saying “when I was struggling for acting work, back in Illinois, I would have killed for the part of cicada in larval stage.”
But, Colbert noted, the part likely would have instead been won by his longtime friend Steve Carell, who just had that certain “je ne cicada.”
Forest preserve president invites Colbert to take part in cicada sequel
But Colbert may still get his shot at a cicada role. In response, the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County put out a TikTok video, in which Forest Preserve District President Daniel Hebreard thanked Colbert for featuring their video, and invited him to take part in the next one.
“I have a once-in-a-lifetime offer for you,” Hebreard said. “We want you to be a part of our sequel: Informational Cicada Video Number II After Emergence.” On screen appeared a graphic with the title…depicting a cicada in the foreground with burning, exploding buildings in the background.
Hebreard said it was a “limited time offer” as the emergence will soon start in the Chicagoland area, and told Colbert if he was too busy, the forest preserve could “always bring in Steve Carell.”
Though that follow-up video may be in jest, the video invite is certainly no joke by social media standards…it’s already gained more than 135,000 views on TikTok.
Video, image courtesy: Forest Preserve District of DuPage County
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