The Late Show's Brett Kavanaugh/UB40 mash-up is the feel-bad song of the season

By William Hughes | October 3, 2018 | 3:39am

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The ongoing story surrounding Supreme Court nominee and accused rapist Brett Kavanaugh is kind of like a big, angry octopus: No matter how well you think you have it under control, there’s always a new bit ready to slink out from somewhere and knock you on your ass. Like, say, the news—which broke this weekend—that Kavanaugh once got into a barfight after a UB40 concert, because he and his friends thought another guy at the bar was Ali Campbell, a.k.a., “The guy from UB40.” Besides serving as yet another data point—for those who needed one—in the big graph of reasons Brett Kavanaugh probably shouldn’t be on the Supreme Court, it’s also just an entirely bizarre anecdote, especially since it’s the best press that the British reggae-pop outfit has probably gotten in years.

Especially now that they’ve (sort of) gotten some airplay on a national network talk show out of it, courtesy of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert. Inspired by Kavanaugh’s temperament—and his stated affection for beer—Colbert’s team put together a mash-up of his testimony with the band’s one big hit, “Red, Red Wine.” It’s even kind of catchy, at least until our extremely limited tolerance for Kavanaugh’s under-oath whining starts to go straight to our heads.