Whimsical DuPage County, Illinois video on cicadas attracts Stephen Colbert’s attention

CHICAGO (CBS) — The Forest Preserve District of DuPage County has been getting a lot of buzz for an entertaining video it posted on periodical cicadas.

On Wednesday of last week, the forest preserve district featured “The Life Cycle of a 17-Year Cicada,” in which district ecology supervisor Tom Velat explained how cicadas emerge from the ground, crawl out of their exoskeletal shells, and acquire their dark brown to black color, orange wings, and red eyes after a few days.

The video also describes the mating cycle – with the help of a man in a cicada costume beating bongos and tossing out a pickup line as he sat in a tree. Actual male cicadas use their tymbals to generate sounds in hopes of attracting a female mate, and make a lot of noise in doing so.

Another actor had a few interesting tasks in playing a larval cicada.

This past Wednesday night, Stephen Colbert—an alum, of course, of Chicago’s The Second City—noticed the Forest Preserve District of DuPage County video on “The Late Show.”

“Let me just say when I was struggling for acting work in Illinois, I would have killed for the part of cicada in larval stage,” Colbert said in his monologue. “But just like everything else, the part would have gone to Steve Carell. He just had that certain je ne sais-cada.”

This did not escape the notice of Forest Preserve District of DuPage County, where President Daniel Hebreard posted a whimsical message to Colbert on Thursday.

“I have a once-in-a-lifetime offer for you. We want you to be a part of our sequel – ‘Informational Cicada Video II, After Emergence!’” Hebreard said in the video, as a mock title card appeared showing what appeared to be an AI art approximation of Chicago being set upon by an apocalyptic storm of fire and swarming insects, along with one 17-year cicada hovering upfront.

Hebreard emphasized that this was a “limited-time offer,” as the cicada emergence is about to begin. In some places, it already has.

“So if you want to join us, we’re waiting,” Hebreard advised Colbert, “but if you’re too busy, we can always bring in Steve Carell.”