The story of Tacho Somoza’s pants that went viral on TikTok

American comedian Stephen Colbert, host of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, revealed last week on a podcast that he has pants belonging to Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza Debayle.

Colbert revealed it on the podcast fifth strike force, From Spotify, along with Jimmy Kimmel, Jimmy Fallon, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver. The broadcaster said that his mother, Lorna Colbert, was a friend of Somoza Debayle while he was studying at the La Salle Military Academy in the United States.

The story caught the attention of his four colleagues, who began to ask him why he had some pants belonging to Somoza in his possession.

Read also: This is how the Somoza dictatorship fell

“Do they know who he is? The brutal dictator of Nicaragua,” the comedian began, explaining that in 1979, when Somoza fled the country and arrived in Miami, he was watching television with his mother.

“Poor Tacho”

Poor Tacho, said my mother, who was behind me drying her hands with a kitchen towel. He asked her what do you mean by Tacho.

“That’s the name we called it,” Lorna Colbert replied. When Stephen asked who? The mother tells her that she and her Uncle Ed, since her uncle and Somoza go to the same military school on Long Island.

@strikeforcefive Why is Stephen Colbert wearing Nicaraguan dictator Anastasio Somoza’s pants? #Stephen Colbert #Jimmy Kimmel #Jimmy Fallon #Seth Meyers #John Oliver # Podcast #Link_in_Bio ♬ original sound – fifth strike force

And here his mother confesses that she is Somoza’s friend. “Were you the girlfriend of the brutal dictator in Nicaragua?” Colbert asked his mother, and she replied, “He wasn’t the brutal dictator when we were dating, that was his father.”

You may be interested: The last interview of Somoza Debayle before the fall of his dictatorship

Colbert explained that Tacho spent some holidays at his grandparents’ house in Larchmont because he was unable to go to and from Nicaragua. After graduating, she left some clothes behind when she spent her last vacation at her grandparents’ house.

The anchor also reported that his son dressed up as Tacho’s military for Halloween. “His full uniform is from La Salle Military Academy,” he added, adding that the pants are now in New Jersey. “They have the label that says A. Somoza,” he added.

The story went viral on TikTok after the Strike Force Five account shared it. This chapter is the first in this podcast, created by the five comedians to help Hollywood screenwriters who are still on strike. You can listen to the podcast (in English) here.

Lana Colbert passed away in June 2013 at the age of 92. She bore 11 children with Dr. James Willam Colbert, who died in 1974 along with two of his children in a plane crash.