The Late Show with Stephen Colbert doesn't begin until September 8th, but its staff isn't taking the summer off. Colbert and company have been experimenting with a variety of creative outlets including a podcast, video blogs, random appearances on local morning news shows, and advertising for its neighbor, a Times Square pizzeria. Now, Colbert has released his own video game, playable inside your browser.

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert: Escape from the Man-sized Cabinet runs on Twine, a popular text-based video game engine. If I had to guess, I'd wager this is the work of Colbert writer Rob Dubbin, who co-wrote a Facebook reboot of Where in the World Is Carmen Sandiego? and is currently developing a text-based version of American football called Football for Amateurs, which I played briefly at this year's Game Developers Conference and really wish he would release already.

I won't explain what happens inside Escape from the Man-sized Cabinet, because there's nothing quite as humorless as explaining a joke. Go play for yourself. Yeah yeah, I know it's technically not the weekend yet, but who cares. I've said it before, and I'll say it again: you deserve a break.

Play it here. If you enjoy this adventure, here's a place to try many more Twine games.

Update Saturday, July 18th 2:45PM: The game was created by Dubbin along with Colbert writers Daniel Kibblesmith and Cullen Crawford and artist Tim Luecke.