On Monday night, Comedy Central finally unveiled its newest late-night venture, The Opposition w/ Jordan Klepper—a farcical program in which Klepper plays an Alex Jones type who is bent on exposing every way that “they” are trying to oppress “us.” During the run-up to the show’s premiere, comparisons to The Colbert Report abounded; after all, Stephen Colbert made his name riffing on Bill O’Reilly back during the former Fox pundit’s heyday. As The New York Times put it, “Jordan Klepper wants to be a Colbert for the Breitbart era.” So, does he succeed?

As with any show, it’ll take more than one episode to answer that question. Klepper spent a good portion of his premiere explaining The Opposition to his audience and introducing his cast of correspondents. (On this show, they’re called “citizen journalists.”) As the series becomes more familiar, it’ll have more time to hone its focus and sharpen its identity—but already its Colbert roots are definitely showing. As Klepper introduced a new term—”mental nationalism”—during his first act, it was hard not to remember Colbert’s old segment “The Word,” which he has also resurrected from time to time on his new broadcast home, The Late Show.

As he introduced the term, Klepper told his audience, “I know why you’re here; you’re here because you’ve noted that all mainstream media sounds the same . . . That’s how they smuggle their dangerous ideas across the open borders of your mind. I want to shut down those borders. I want to close your mind. It’s called mental nationalism, and it’s an idea whose time has come. That’s why here at The Opposition, we believe in our own golden rule: may you only hear from others what you’ve already been telling yourself.”

It’s unclear for now if this will become a regular bit or if Klepper and his team will brand it the same way Colbert branded “The Word”—but either way, it was one of many nods at the legacy Klepper is drawing from.

But really, The Opposition’s greatest asset is one it didn’t lift from its truthy predecessor. After just one episode, the series has already begun to create a promising, immersive fictional environment.

As Klepper told V.F., he wants to surround his character with a “cathartic and fun” atmosphere—one that acts as though Klepper and his correspondents are all part of a vast, constantly whirring media environment, much like the fringe personalities who inspired them. That’s why the premiere included cuts to, say, “citizen journalist” Kobi Libii in a radio station, where he’s busy ranting and raving about pumpkins and eugenics. Throughout the night, Klepper made off-hand references to faux radio stations and YouTube channels that could easily come to life at any moment, should the series choose to expand its universe.