Late Show Vocab | Ocean Vuong

Summary

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The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Late Show Vocab Recap | Ocean Vuong

Date: May 11, 2026
Main Theme:
This episode features a fun behind-the-scenes segment on Late Show vocabulary and traditions, followed by a heartfelt and insightful interview with acclaimed poet and novelist Ocean Vuong about his latest novel, The Emperor of Gladness, hope, dreams, and the power of language.

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Episode Structure & Highlights

1. Brief Banter & Introduction

[01:52–03:14]

• Stephen Colbert and Becca (producer/co-host) introduce the show and tease an interview with Ocean Vuong, highlighting the unique Late Show tradition of hosting various types of guests, including literary figures.
• Becca expresses her regret about the show going off the air and her appreciation for giving a platform to artists like Ocean Vuong:

  "One of the things I like most about our show is that...all the different kinds of guests who fit it." (Becca, 02:40)

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2. Late Show Vocabulary Game

[03:14–10:01] Stephen and Becca play "Late Show Vocab," defining quirky insider terms and beloved traditions from the writers' room:

Key Terms & Traditions

• Brappin on the Poof

  • The term for ending a cold open with a musical "brap" (drum hit) and a dramatic flourish or visual effect.
  • Origins:

    "When you get to the final joke, you go, okay, now we're brapping on the poof because Joe Sailor, our drummer...goes, brap. That’s how he starts the song every time." (Becca, 03:49) "One of the first ones just says, brap it on the poof with an exclamation mark." (Becca, 04:49)

  • Memorable Moment: Stephen admits to only now, after six years, learning the meaning.

• Dollar Sign

  • Used in scripts as a placeholder for a joke, so writers know where a better punchline is needed.
  • Additional context:

    "Dollar sign means we drop a dollar sign into any script where we think we need a better joke in this spot." (Becca, 05:23) "Funny is money." (Becca, 06:24)

• Sack, Sack, Sack, Sack, Sack

  • Weekly tradition: Staffers each contribute a dollar; one is drawn as the "winner" (after a fake-out "loser" announcement), who gets the pool.
  • Described playfully and with affection:

    "On the last show of the week...There’s a sack on my desk...you write your name on the dollar and you put it in there. And then I pull out who the winning dollar is..." (Becca, 06:34)

    • Rituals around folding dollars and trying to cheat for staffers add to the charm.

    "At one point, I had to make loops illegal because it would slip right onto my finger..." (Becca, 08:35) "In 20 years, I think the cheating has worked twice." (Becca, 09:05)

Tone

The segment is playful, self-effacing, and brimming with affection for workplace quirks.

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3. Interview: Ocean Vuong on The Emperor of Gladness

[10:11–18:25]

Ocean Vuong: Introduction

• Noted poet and novelist, MacArthur Genius Grant winner, and author of The Emperor of Gladness.
• Becca welcomes Ocean.

  "Please welcome to the Late Show, Ocean Vuong. Hi, nice to meet you." (Becca, 10:30)
  "Thank you so much. It's an honor." (Ocean Vuong, 10:32)

The Novel: Themes and Origin

[10:34–12:24]

• The Emperor of Gladness begins with a young man on a bridge, contemplating suicide, and an encounter with an elderly woman with dementia shifts the course of his life.

  "I think suicide is a very deeply personal subject for me. I lost my uncle when he was just 28 years old...And I think at the core of it, suicide is still an act of hope." (Ocean Vuong, 10:48)

• Explores what happens after choosing life over suicide—a story usually told at a book's end, here placed at the beginning.
• Notable Quote:

  "...Fiction at its core gives us a technology to ask questions we never get to ask in life or it's too costly, or the chances are fleeting." (Ocean Vuong, 11:24)

On Kindness Without Hope

[12:24–13:53]

• Vuong unpacks the idea by discussing his character's work in fast food, drawing from his own youth.

  "Everyone is so generous with a kind of kindness because they know that there is nothing else beyond it. But they are deeply invested in their own dreams." (Ocean Vuong, 13:11)

• Insight: The show humanizes the "trap" of minimum wage labor and celebrates the dreams quietly carried within.

The Power of Dreams and Hope

[13:53–15:09]

• Dreams (even unfulfilled) sustain hope; as a teacher, Vuong sees "pushing back the horizon" as essential.

  "The greatest thing you can do as a teacher is to push the horizon back even further...Hope is still the greatest engine, and it begins with language." (Ocean Vuong, 14:02)

On Cynicism and Courage

[15:09–15:40]

• Vuong and Becca affirm the virtue of hope and the folly of cynicism.

  "Cynicism can be misread as intelligence in our culture and hope is often the most courageous thing because it means you’re all in." (Ocean Vuong, 14:54)
  "Cynicism masquerades as wisdom." (Becca, 15:09)
  "Some of the worst things, you know, to be in our culture is a fool. But I think everything worth doing risks being foolish." (Ocean Vuong, 15:12)

EE Cummings & Shared Birthdays

[15:40–15:53]

• Becca quotes EE Cummings; Ocean reveals they share a birthday.

Oprah's Book Club & Cultural Access

[15:53–18:22]

• Vuong discusses being selected for Oprah’s Book Club and what Oprah meant to his community:

  "Oh, my gosh, it was a big thing in my mom's nail salon...my mother...was illiterate her whole life. She doesn't know what the New Yorker is. She never saw what a literary prize is. But the only time she saw a book for the first time was in Oprah's show." (Ocean Vuong, 16:08)

• On the importance of making culture accessible—talk shows and Oprah’s Book Club as "town squares."
• Memorable Closing Quote:

  "...what was so beautiful for me was that it brought the idea of culture and widened it into a town square. And that town square happened to be in the middle of a nail salon in Hartford County. What luck." (Ocean Vuong, 17:58)

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4. Closing Remarks

[18:22–18:25]

• Becca thanks Ocean Vuong for his candid, moving conversation.

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Notable Quotes

• "Fiction at its core gives us a technology to ask questions we never get to ask in life or it’s too costly, or the chances are fleeting." (Ocean Vuong, 11:24)

• "I'm not interested so much in the American dream as we know it, so much as Americans who dream." (Ocean Vuong, 13:18)

• "Hope is still the greatest engine, and it begins with language." (Ocean Vuong, 14:02)

• "Cynicism can be misread as intelligence in our culture, and hope is often the most courageous thing because it means you’re all in." (Ocean Vuong, 14:54)

• "Everything worth doing risks being foolish." (Ocean Vuong, 15:12)

• "...what was so beautiful for me was that it brought the idea of culture and widened it into a town square. And that town square happened to be in the middle of a nail salon in Hartford County. What luck." (Ocean Vuong, 17:58)

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Key Timestamps

• 01:52 – Stephen and Becca intro, reflect on Late Show guest diversity
• 03:21 – Start of "Late Show Vocab" segment
• 03:49 – "Brappin on the Poof" explained
• 05:23 – "Dollar Sign" as scripting shorthand
• 06:34 – "Sack, Sack, Sack, Sack, Sack" tradition explained
• 10:11 – Ocean Vuong segment begins
• 10:48 – Vuong on writing about suicide and hope
• 12:24 – Kindness without hope and the humanity at fast food jobs
• 14:02 – Dreams, hope, and teaching
• 15:09 – Discussion of cynicism, wisdom, and courage
• 16:08 – The personal importance of Oprah and cultural accessibility
• 18:24 – Thank-yous and episode wrap-up

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Tone & Takeaways

• Playful, warm, and a little wistful: The hosts celebrate the Late Show's spirit through its in-jokes and unique traditions.
• Deeply moving, thoughtful, and gentle: Ocean Vuong’s interview covers the complexities of hope, the quiet resilience found in everyday dreams, and the unique power of language and representation.

This episode is a must-listen for anyone who loves behind-the-scenes comedy, literary insight, and stories about finding hope and meaning in the everyday.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

Hi there, Stephen.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Hi, Becca.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is the Late Show POD Show. This is Stephen Colbert.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

This is Becca.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes. And we're here to introduce some wonderful podcasts for the break while the Late show is off on vacation.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Great. And are we. Is this a guest that we're getting tonight or a comedy bit?

[Stephen Colbert]

This is a guest.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

This is a guest. Can I guess who this guest is? Please give me a hint.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is really cool. I don't know if you would call this person a celebrity. This is not a celebrity. This is an artist who you had a lovely conversation with.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Ocean Vuong.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Ocean Vuong.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, sure.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

The Emperor of Gladness.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, really Cool. Really cool interview. We're doing the extended on here.

[Ocean Vuong]

Oh, good.

[Stephen Colbert]

And since this is a wordsmith, do you have anything you want to say about Ocean Vuong? Because you had a lovely thing, a taping after you guys wrapped your interview, just about how nice it is to have, you know, an author on, right?

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, I mean, I just. I mean, I. You know, the people who are listening to this probably know that the show is going off the air in May, and there's lots of things that I regret about the show going off the air in May, but one of the things is that I just love that we have on people like Ocean Vuong. And I know that Seth already had on Ocean Vuong. I know I got Ocean scooped by Seth here, but, you know, just another show going off the air that would have on Ocean Vuong in a comedy context, like we're a late show comedy show. It's one of the things I like most about our show is that the different. All the different kinds of guests who fit it.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, definitely. But this is a beautiful interview with Ocean Vuong. Please enjoy. But before we get to that, I have a game I want to play.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, gosh.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is a new game we've never played before. I call it Late Show Vocab. Since we have a wordsmith on the podcast tonight, an artist of words and poems and novels. I have a list of words that the staff has submitted to me that are words that we believe originated at the Late show or possibly the Quebec Report, that are said with frequency at work, and we want you to explain what they mean.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Okay. Wow. Okay, I'm curious.

[Stephen Colbert]

Here comes the first one. Brappin on the poof.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, brappin on the poof is because that's what we call the end of any of the cold opens to the show, is that when you get to the final joke, you go, okay, now we're brapping on the poof because Joe Sailor, our drummer, Jazz cowboy. Jazz cowboy goes, brap. That's how he starts the song every time. Originally, when John Baptiste wrote that song, which is called Humanism, when he wrote that song, it didn't have the brap. It had been in the brap in the sample that he gave me. And that might have been like a holdover from a other thing they were taping or something. But I said, where's that brap? He goes, oh, that's not. I said, could you do that? Because that's a great way to start the show is that brap on that? And then I think one of the early times that we're doing a cold open, I think it might have. I might have been in the cold open. And then it ended with a smoke bomb or something like that, Like a poof. And I disappeared in the cold open back when I used to do them with Liz Levin and she was trying to get a meeting with me. Every cold open.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And so I said, yeah, that's the out. It just ends right there. Like when the smoke bomb goes poof. Like there. We're brapping on the poof right there. And so I think it was brap it on the poof originally. And so on the back wall in our rewrite room, we've got all of these sort of things that have been said at the show over the last 10 years. And one of the first ones just says, brap it on the poof with an exclamation mark. So we always call it brapping on the poof.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. And I just want to say, I've worked here for six years now. That phrase is said every single day. This is the first time I've learned what it means.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Brap it on the poof.

[Stephen Colbert]

Brap it on the poof. Okay, next one. Dollar sign.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Dollar sign means we drop a dollar sign into any script where we think we need a better joke in this spot. And it's dollar sign A because you don't generally put another dollar sign. We don't use dollar signs that much when we're writing jokes. And so all you have to do is search for dollar sign and you can find it in the script.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. So it's just a symbol that was

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

just to put in there. So let's dollar sign that or we'll say tk and the TK stands for joke. The TK is to come. And why is it a joke to come? I don't know. It's like, why is. I don't think we came up with that. I think it's like something to come here. I think it has to do with, like, early filmmakers that were German. The same reason why in a script it'll say mos means without sound because it's mid out sound.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, interesting.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

It's mit.

[Stephen Colbert]

I thought it might be because TC could be time code. And so maybe they just need another letter there.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Hey, maybe that. Maybe that's why.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, if anyone knows. Yes, Colin Lowe's.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And also dollar signs. Because funny is money.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, that's good.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

That's what, in my mind it's always been. Cause funny is money.

[Stephen Colbert]

Because fun is money.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Exactly. You know, silence is violence. Yeah. But funny is money.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, next one. Sack, Sack, Sack, Sack, sack.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, on the last show of the week, which is now Thursdays last show of the week. We have. We've been doing this for a long time. Since the old show. I mean, 20 years maybe, we've been doing this. Is that on Thursdays. There's a sack on my desk. We even took the sack from the old show to the new show. We had to replace it because it had been torn apart. It just got worn out. Well, everybody goes around the building. An intern goes around the building and gets a dollar from everybody. And probably, just. Probably the feds are gonna come down on us for saying this. And you write your name on the dollar and you put it in there. And then I pull out who the winning dollar is, and I start it. I always say it has to happen the same way. Every time. Because I'm a creature, because I'm neurotic, I have to say, sack. Sa. Sack. Sack. And that means it's sack time.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And everybody should pay attention. And they pay attention, like, maybe more than they do in rehearsals because they don't know if they're gonna win the sack.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

So sack, sack, sack, sack, sack. And then sound. Whoever's running sound goes. They roll a tape of a drum roll. And then the first thing I say is, tonight's loser is. Because I used to say, tonight's winner. But then it would be over. And I love the tension, and I love the sack. And so I said, how do we stretch this out? But so now I pull out $2, and the first dollar is tonight's loser is. That means if we did it the normal way, this person would have won. But we don't do it the normal way. We pull out $2, and the second one is the winner. And so it's just another way to make people feel bad, I guess.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And so then the loser. And then while I say, and the loser is. Mark McKenna, our stage manager, always goes, I hate this part. He has to say that every time.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And then I pull out whoever it is, and then I go, and tonight's winner is. And there's a drum roll again. And then I ask people in the audience, I say, I will cheat for you.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Describe your dollar. How you. Is it just loose? Is it in a tube? Is it folded? Is it a star shape? Is it a paper football? What is it?

[Stephen Colbert]

People get creative with the folds they

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

do like the ring. At one point, I had to make loops. Illegal because it would slip right onto my finger because I would just rub my hand and the loops would flip on my fingers. No loops, no loops. I don't go if I feel a loop. I told no loops, no loops. So. And then I try to cheat. Like if you say it's a triangle and you're the first person that. I really gave me a good answer because people are yelling out their shapes and then I, and I pull. I try to cheat every time. And I think in 20 years, I think the cheating has worked twice.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Have you ever won?

[Stephen Colbert]

I have won. Well, I'm gonna say that it is sort of like playing reverse crane, like in an arcade where you try to create an object that you, the crane, you, Stephen Coober, the physical crane, get caught on.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, sure.

[Ocean Vuong]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's where that feels like. It feels like a nice thing to grab and take out of a hat.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

So that's sex. Sex, sex, sex.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's. I've won. It's a wonderful. It's so exciting when you win. We all like each other, so it's exciting when anyone wins.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And the rule is there has to be $100 in the bag.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, no, it's.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Or I won't pull anything out.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's a healthy sum for sure.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

And if there isn't 100, me and Tom and Louis. Yeah, well, and maybe whoever is sitting next to Tom for the rewrite for the rehearsal, we throw in some cash to get it over 100.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes. Very generous bucks being thrown in. But it's a lovely thing. And treats themselves to nice dinners with each other, you know, outside of the work hours. It's a lovely tradition.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Anything else?

[Stephen Colbert]

I got more, but I think let's hold off for more next week.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Great. Let's do more. This is fun. Let's do more.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is fun. And we're gonna listen to Ocean Vuong on the Late show right now. Peace. Enjoy.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Welcome back, everybody. Folks, my next guest tonight is a New York Times best selling author who has been nominated for the National Book Award and won the MacArthur genius grant. His new novel is the Emperor of Gladness. Please welcome to the Late show Ocean Vuong. Hi, nice to meet you.

[Ocean Vuong]

Hi, good to meet you.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Thanks for being here.

[Ocean Vuong]

Thank you so much. It's an honor.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

In May, you released your highly anticipated second novel, the Emperor of Gladness. It was an instant New York Times bestseller and it was selected for Oprah's Book Club. For those who haven't read it yet, what is it about?

[Ocean Vuong]

Well, it starts with a young man who's standing on the edge of a bridge contemplating jumping, and he's stopped by an 82 year old woman with dementia and they end up living together in the course of a year. And I think suicide is a very deeply personal subject for me. I lost my uncle when he was just 28 years old. I was 24. He was like a brother to me. And I think at the core of it, suicide is still an act of hope. One does it with the hope of ending tremendous suffering. I would go on to say it's a hopelessly hopeful act. And what was really interesting to me was what happens for someone who chooses to step away from the ledge, right back into a corner. How do you choose life without the tools for living? And it was a question I never got to, to ask my uncle. And I think fiction at its core gives us a technology to ask questions we never get to ask in life or it's too costly, or the chances are fleeting. And I thought usually stepping away from the bridge happens at the end of a book. Everyone's relieved and it's cathartic. But what a wonderfully tense and capacious way to start a book. To ask, what does day look like for someone who chooses to live, God willing, despite not having the ability to do so? What does day 20 look like? I thought I wanted to ask the question I never got to ask the loved one I lost. And fiction is a wonderful way to do it.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

You speak in here of. You've spoken of the idea of kindness without hope. What does that mean?

[Ocean Vuong]

Well, the character goes on to work in a fast food restaurant. And I think many Americans have experienced this, myself included. I worked at a place called Boston Market. And the elephant in the room in a place like that, I think is you're not supposed to ask, where do you go after this? You know, if you go to nursing school, if you go to medical school, there's a kind of. Even H Vac. There's a kind of ascendancy that there's a. There's an after place. But when you work in fast food, working minimum wage, the idea that you're actually trapped is incredibly palpable for everybody involved. And I think what you notice then is that everyone is so generous with a kind of kindness because they know that there is nothing else beyond it. But they are deeply invested in their own dreams. And I think what I learned working in fast food and most of my life as an American is that I'm not interested so much in the American dream as we know it, so much as Americans who dream. And in every fast food restaurant you see, it's full of people with dreams. Despite not being able to execute them, they still hold onto them and they strive towards it. And I wanted to amplify that using what I knew best, which is language.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Do you think that the dream itself, the dreams that they have of something else, constitutes a form of hope, even if it's not a conscious hope?

[Ocean Vuong]

100%. I think hope is a beautiful thing because it's kind of always the North Star. And as long as you have that beacon, you move towards, you know, and I do this with my students. The greatest thing you can do as a teacher is to push the horizon back even further. Because even if your students don't reach their goals, they still exceed the limits of where they started from the get go. And I think this is true with any vocation, whether it's in a fast food restaurant or writing or entertainment or what have you. Hope is still the greatest engine, and it begins with language. It's not empty. And the classroom, to me is the most hopeful place even before a single person steps into it, a teacher or students. The condition of the classroom is aspirational. It's a laboratory of possibility and wonder. And the teacher's only job is to preserve that so that it does not get demolished by cynicism. I think often cynicism can be misread as intelligence in our culture and hope is often the most courageous thing because it means you're all in. You know, you've gone all into it.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Cynicism masquerades as wisdom.

[Ocean Vuong]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Thank you 100%. And I think it takes a lot of courage to say, I believe in this, and I'm going to go forward even if you judge me, even if you say this is silly or foolish. Some of the worst things, you know, to be in our culture is a fool. But I think everything worth doing risks being foolish.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Do you know EE Cummings? Holy to be a fool while spring is in the world. My blood approves 100%, you know, and kisses are a better faith than wisdom.

[Ocean Vuong]

You know, we share a birthday. October 14th, my fellow Libra.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Oh, really?

[Ocean Vuong]

Coming soon. Yeah, yeah.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Well, listen, speaking of hopeful things happening, here you are. You were chosen for Oprah's Book Club. And I'm just curious. That's a great way for more people to see the art that you do. Was. I mean, growing up, was Oprah a big thing in your house?

[Ocean Vuong]

Oh, my gosh, it was a big thing in my mom's nail salon because we were there every day and I had the best English. So I ran the phones and you know, I was so honored to get that call. Anytime I get an important call, I stand in front of my mother's altar and my publisher tricked me. They said, we're going to have a publicity meeting. And I said, oh gosh, I'm going to get in trouble. So I stood in front of my mother's altar. I said, ma, help me out here. And then they said, ah, actually we're having some trouble with the line. We're going to call you with an unknown number. Just pick it up. And then I heard the voice and I knew that voice. I heard it every day at 4pm with my mother. And I think what was so beautiful is that my mother, you know, she was illiterate her whole life. She doesn't know what the New Yorker is. She never saw what a literary prize is. But the only time she saw a book for the first time was in Oprah's show. And I think what was so beautiful about that show and even your show, talk shows in general, is that you bring culture to working people. Because a book, even if you get it free at the library, it still takes eight, 10 hours to read. And people like my mother worked 8 o' clock in the morning to 8 at night. If a customer walks in at 7:55, she has to take them and that's another hour. She won't be home till 9. And to bring cultural work to the center of people and say, you have permission to access this discourse. And I watched the women in the nail salon look at that show with the books and say, oh, it's about divorce, it's about doubt, it's about migration, it's about trying their best to have kindness as a human being, which is an incredibly hard thing to do. I know that I don't need to go to school and have a degree to know that I've lived that. And I think what was so beautiful for me was that it brought the idea of culture and widen it into a town square. And that town square happened to be in the middle of a nail salon in Hartford County. What luck.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Well, Ocean, thank you so much for being here.

[Ocean Vuong]

Thank you, thank you.

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

Thank you for sharing your story. The Emperor of Gladness is available now. Ocean Huang, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show POD show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.

[IXL Advertiser]

Spring just slid into your DMs grab that boho.

[Stephen Colbert]

Look for that rooftop dinner, those sandals that can keep up with you.

[IXL Advertiser]

And hang some string lights to give

[Becca (Producer/Co-host)]

your patio a glow.

[Ocean Vuong]

Up.

[IXL Advertiser]

Spring's calling, Ross. Work your magic.

[ADT/Columbia Advertiser]

You can't reason with the sun. Trust us, we've tried. This summer, it's time to put that angry ball of fire on mute. Columbia's Omnishade technology is engineered to protect you from the sun's harsh rays that can burn and damage your skin. The sun is relentless, but so is our gear. Level up your [e-mail] to spend more time outside and less time slathering on aloe lotion. You're welcome, Columbia. Engineered for whatever.