Mr. Colbert announced his first guest (George Clooney) and made an executive decision: His desk will move to the opposite side of the stage from where it was when David Letterman hosted “The Late Show”. Today we got an example of what the real Stephen Colbert will be like, and the biggest difference might be when he’s interviewing guests.
Advertisement
Colbert is raring to go, he said a couple of times, because he can’t wait to do jokes about Donald Trump’s campaign for the Republican presidential nomination. “It might be my favorite thing I did on the show”. “Right now I’m just dry-Trumping”. “That’s how I learned my craft”.
As soon as he was hired, Colbert stated he would retire the “Stephen Colbert” character of The Colbert Report. “Now I’m just hoping that certain people stay in the race until September 9”. He added, “I don’t like comedy in theory – that’s the theology, I want to get to the religion”.
As for his new gig, Colbert said he chose September 8 as the start date for his “Late Show” run because it’s the day the presidential race traditionally starts.
“CBS has asked nothing of me other to fill an hour, Monday through Friday”, he said.
On moving into the Ed Sullivan Theater: The theater was completely gutted and has “been taken back to its 1927, lovely state”, he said. “They liked the show I used to do and asked, would you mind doing another 120 hours a year?”
“I had done everything I could with” him, said Colbert of his former character with the exception of one element: The old TV host had always had a genuine interest in his guests, and that won’t change this time around.
On making Jon Stewart cry on-air during last week’s Daily Show finale: “I felt like a rodeo clown trying to keep him on stage”. Before, “you couldn’t tell that it was a theater, but now you can”.
The funnyman, who amassed a legion of followers with his portrayal as the brash rightwing pundit on Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report“, said the countdown to his bow as himself has him excited – particularly because the persona was getting in the way near the end. “Made him cry!”
But he waved off suggestions his arrival will launch a “late-night war” with ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel and NBC’s Jimmy Fallon. “Competition’s not that fun for me”.
Advertisement
“The idea of a “war” between hosts makes no sense to me”, he said. “Fighting between the hosts doesn’t sound amusing”. It also served as an exercise for him and his staff, because “that’s the speed at which you have to do it”. “When I finished, I was exhausted”.
