Colbert drinks alcohol. The audience cheers.

Every now and then, Stephen Colbert will drink alcohol during his evening monologue. At some appropriate moment, usually in an effort to feign disinterest or finish off a bit, he will step toward the camera so a staffer can pass him a glass of bourbon, whiskey, or similar spirit, and then he drinks.

Here’s the bizarre part:

Every time, without fail, the audience cheers. Some hoot. Others holler. A couple even whoop. But the response is always audible, always positive, and always thrilled.

Steven Colbert takes a sip of hard liquor, and everyone cheers.

I don’t get it.

Are we still at the point where a 55 year-old man imbibing alcohol is cheer-worthy? I’m not complaining about the actual drinking. That’s fine. Legal and perfectly acceptable.

But cheer-worthy?

Seth Meyers has an occasional segment called “Seth Meyers and INSERT CELEBRITY NAME Go Day Drinking.” In this segment, Seth and a celebrity like Rhianna, Ina Garten, or the Jonas Brothers drink large amounts of alcohol in the middle of the day, and hilarity ensues. Audiences don’t cheer when Seth drinks, but they laugh, which makes a lot more sense to me, because it’s funny.

And yes, if you’re a teenager and your friend is shotgunning his first beer, or you’re a freshman in college and your sorority sister is doing her first keg stand, you cheer.

This makes sense, too. Your brain is not yet fully developed, and alcohol consumption is still novel and illegal.

It makes sense to cheer. It’s kind of stupid, but it also makes sense.

But this is a grown-ass man, standing before an audience of presumably grown-ass adults, sipping a little scotch, and the response is always loud, enthusiastic, and filled with a few high-pitched screams.

What the hell is going on?