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Is it really the last hurrah for Stephen Colbert and The Colbert Report?

After nine seasons and a whole lot of truthiness, the comic actor retired his right-wing persona on Thursday night in preparation for his next role hosting CBS’s The Late Show. Here’s a look back at five memorable Colbert Report moments.

Colbert riles up Windsor and Winnipeg in the same segment (Nov. 12, 2012)

Nobody can ever say Colbert doesn’t know how to push people’s buttons. In a segment to push his book America Again: Re-Becoming the Greatness We Never Weren’t, the puckish comic made the outrageous random suggestion that Windsor may in fact be “the Earth’s rectum.” Colbert goes on to say, “It’s a question. As a journalist it is my job to ask these probing questions. … It could just as easily be Winnipeg.”

Colbert schools James Franco on his J.R.R. Tolkien knowledge (March 6, 2013)

The never-bashful Franco appeared to promote his new film Oz the Great and Powerful, but the conversation instead turned into a trivia contest to determine who best knew the works of The Lord of the Rings author. Franco held his own until he was unable to answer Colbert’s request to supply the reason why Galadriel came to Middle Earth. In Colbert’s words, he “smoked him like a ham.”

Colbert eulogizes his mother on-air (June 19, 2013)

After a break to grieve his mother, Lorna Colbert, the buttoned-down host returned to the show with a touching tribute to the woman who brought him into the world. Colbert opened the episode by saying, “If you watch the show, if you also like me, that’s because of my mom.” Colbert also revealed his mother’s final words to him after telling her was going back to New York to resume shooting the show. “She said, ‘I can’t wait to see it. I wouldn’t miss it for the world.’ ” And with that, Colbert drew a heavy sigh and went back to work.

Colbert sings O Canada following the Ottawa shooting (Oct. 29, 2014)

One week after after Canadian soldier Cpl. Nathan Cirillo was killed in Ottawa, Colbert responded to the tragedy by praising the heroics of Sergeant-at-Arms Kevin Vickers, who shot and killed the gunman (“To hell with Bruce Willis!”), and launching into our national anthem. In the hands of a lesser talent, the segment would have been disrespectful; with Colbert, it was actually quite touching.

Colbert gets cheeky with Barack Obama (Dec. 7, 2014)

Shortly after being trounced in the U.S. midterm elections, the American President effected some degree of damage control by sitting down for an interview with TV’s best newsman in the guise of a self-absorbed Republican. Thanks to Colbert’s innate knowledge of Washington and world events, the conversation turned out to be a mostly serious discussion touching on a wide range of topics, from Keystone to job numbers. But of course Colbert couldn’t resist the temptation to get cheeky, as evinced by him bluntly asking the Commander-in-Chief: “You have the nuclear launch codes, right?”