Chicago national anthem: Stephen Colbert shouts out Lower Wacker, Italian beef, The Wieners Circle and more

Oh say, did you hear Stephen Colbert's Chicago-style national anthem?

When the first of this week's four Chicago “Late Show” episodes finally hit the air Monday night around midnight — delayed because the Democratic National Convention ran long — the hour kicked off with an elaborate music video paying tribute to Chicago's greatest traditions (or, some might say, hoariest cliches). It began:

Oh say can you see
Hot Italian dipped beef?

From there we got references to deep-dish pizza, Lower Wacker Drive, the dyeing of the Chicago River, the Wieners Circle and more. Jennifer Hudson joined in a sympathetic lyric for those still not over the Cubs’ 2021 trade of Anthony Rizzo to the Yankees.

She was one of several featured singers with true Chicago cred: Sean Hayes, Jason Sudeikis, Nick Offerman and, in their Superfans finery, George Wendt and Robert Smigel.

While the song was a treat for Chicago viewers, it was a much-needed jolt of fun for ticketholders at the Auditorium Theatre who spent hours waiting for the live broadcast to begin — with only a screen showing the Democratic National Convention for entertainment.

Behind the scenes, Colbert's writers clearly were busy cranking out jokes about the convention's key Monday night figures, from an unusual gaggle of lieutenant governors, to Steve Kerr, to headliner Joe Biden.

While the episode covered a lot of ground, a theme of Chicago pride was a constant. When Colbert's introduced the "Meanwhile" segment in his usual way — with a painstakingly researched and delivered metaphor — it was with an exhaustive description of the Portillo's Italian beef recipe, followed by references to Roosevelt Road and Frango mints.

One of the "Meanwhile" gags cited the Sun-Times’ coverage of a Lombard brewery that served cicada-infused Malört and suggested a new slogan for the bitter liqueur: "The bug improves the flavor."

The guests were a pair of powerhouse women with substantial local history: Maine South High School grad Hillary Rodham Clinton and Northwestern University dropout Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who declared "I love this town" and plugged her Wednesday panel discussion with eight Democratic women governors.

Clinton, meanwhile, bragged that she has "a huge number of friends who still would never put ketchup on a hot dog."

Just hours earlier, Clinton had been a featured speaker at the convention about 3 miles away, where she said "the whole atmosphere was incredible. It was electrifying."

Replied Colbert, "I would say it's the second best audience in Chicago tonight."

Clinton urged her interviewer, a Northwestern grad and former Second City performer, to return to town at least once a month.

"Every time I'm in Chicago I think, 'Why did I ever leave?' " Colbert said. "This is the greatest city in the world."