Stephen Colbert has started doing the promotional rounds ahead of his debut as the new host of The Late Show. Last week, Glamour published an essay by Colbert where he talked about the late-night “sausage party” and how he was going to personally strive to make his show more inclusive to women and minorities – go here to read. Colbert also covers the new issue of GQ and… it’s an okay piece. The thing about Colbert is that in real life, he’s an incredibly decent man with a past mired in profound tragedy. In interviews, he comes across as sharp and often sad. Not try-hard “take me seriously” but more of a “whoa, this guy has had to deal with some heavy stuff.” When he was 10 years old, his father and two brothers died in a plane crash and the whole trajectory of his life changed. Colbert discusses that moment plus some other stuff:
Late shows are a competition: “The show, is Chopped. Late-night shows are Chopped. Who are your guests tonight? Your guests tonight are veal tongue, coffee grounds, and gummy bears. There, make a show…Make an appetizer that appeals to millions of people. That’s what I like. How could you possibly do it? Oh, you bring in your own flavors. Your own house band is another flavor. You have your own flavor. The audience itself is a base dish, like a rice pilaf or something. And then together it’s ‘Oh sh-t, that’s an actual meal.’ And that’s what every day is like at one of these shows. Something is one thing in the morning, and then by the end of the day it’s a totally different thing. It’s all process.”
His interview with Eminem on a local Munroe, Michigan show: “I don’t know what parts of the interview he, like, truly doesn’t know what the f–k’s going on. But yeah, I think there were times when he was genuinely confused.”
Losing his father & brothers: “You gotta learn to love the bomb. Boy, did I have a bomb when I was 10. That was quite an explosion. And I learned to love it. So that’s why. Maybe, I don’t know. That might be why you don’t see me as someone angry and working out my demons onstage. It’s that I love the thing that I most wish had not happened.”
Why he retired his ‘Colbert Report’ character: “I no longer felt that that model served to address the national mood. We’re in a different place now. We can stop freaking out that the guy’s middle name is Hussein. What else? Our response to the horror in South Carolina is to take the flag down. That is something I didn’t think was ever going to happen.”
I think it’s interesting that Colbert believes we’re past the era in politics where he could brilliantly satirize the conservative-blowhard persona. From where I’m sitting, we DO need that kind of satire in our lives, especially coming into a presidential election year. As for his family tragedy… I understand what he’s saying. He wouldn’t be where he is today if he had not experienced that profound loss. He likes where he is today, so does it follow that he has to “love the bomb”?
Cover courtesy of Sebastian Kim/GQ.
I adore Him!! so much, he is one of the ones that would BREAK my heart if he was an A-hole in real life, he also just said that he is planning on advancing the careers of women and putting forward women comedians in his show to make it a little more feminist amidst the sausage fest that is late night tv – His words not mine!!
So true…him and Tom Hanks.
I don’t know what to expect from his new show, but I love him so much and am really looking forward to his return to late-night.
It’ll be interesting to watch how he’ll do once he ditches the Colbert character. If it’s anything like his podcast…. I’ll pass.
I haven’t heard it, please elaborate, Abot.
I’ve been mulling over what is it that bugs me and I’m not sure if I’m describing it accurately… but it’s almost too self-indulgent? Granted, it’s a podcast about The Late Show so he interviews the other writers, producers, the band leader, etc. but somehow the conversation always comes back to how great Colbert is. I mean, he is pretty great but I was surprised at how much ass kissing he (seemingly) requires from his staff.
I just hope he doesn’t turn into celeb ass-kissy late show host. I like him a lot.
I hear you. The celeb interviews were the least favorite part of The Daily Show for me because I felt like Stewart was way too ass-kissy. It made me so uncomfortable sometimes that I just stopped watching that part of the show.
Also, I hated Colbert’s interviews because he never let the guest say anything. He kept interrupting to be funny, and it was funny enough if you didn’t care what the guest had to say. I like him, but I’m not sure he’s right for this job. I’m asleep by then, so I guess I’ll never know.
I’ll be asleep too! 🙂
Me too. I never watched the interview parts of either show, unless the guest was an interesting political figure or someone like Malala Yousafzai.
I loved the Colbert Report, and I think he’s a really wonderful man, but I’m just not into late night celebrity shows. I might check out his monologues online sometime but I definitely won’t be watching.
I’d love if he would be like Jonathan Ross/Alan Carr and take the piss out of his guests, but I really don’t see that happening. But he can’t be more ass-kissy than Fallon, right?
I love him. I think he’s one of the smartest, sharpest, and most kind-hearted people out there. He always used his other show as a platform for doing good, I hope he can on the new show too.
After Craig Ferguson left, I haven’t watched much late night, but I will definitely check out Colbert’s new show.
I miss Craig too. He was hysterical.
I love Craig too. It seems like he left pretty abruptly.
I hated the skeleton robot.
Craig was hands down the best American chat show host. Having said that, I actually like Corden and I thought I’d hate him.
Kiddo, you’re deader to me than Geoff was. 😀
Abbott, from what I remember, he wanted to go a while back, and they convinced him to stay for one more year. It wasn’t so much abrupt, as ignored by the media, which is a real shame. His show was always interesting, funny, and somehow both silly and thoughtful.
Well, you can catch Craig on Celebrity Name Game….a show that my boyfriend got me to watch and now I hate to miss. (Yeah, I’m a nerd.)
I’m still in denial the Report is over! Watching his show in high school is what made me want to go to college
I will always identify Colbert and Stewart with Bush era America. Even though both of their shows continued well after the Bush era. The 00’s was such a weird time for the world. I think historians are going to have a field day.
I think their post-Bush work was just as strong, if not stronger. And I agree with Kaiser that there’s definitely still a place for satirizing the conservative blowhard type. And I also agree that the 00s was a weird, often frightening time for the world.
Every time was a frightening time for the world. There was always a war going on somewhere.
Franca, Indeed. History does have a way of repeating itself.
We watched his speech at the white house correspondent event when Bush was president. It was so spot on that it was uncomfortable. He was so good that you looked at Bush and that jerk looked like a deer in the headlights. Stephen is smart and always on point.
omg, when he said he wanted someone to pinch him cause it seemed like a dream and then looked at Cheney and was like actually I’m a heavy sleeper, someone shoot me in the face? omg, I thought I was going to faint from the combination of shock and joy! lol
LOL!! lolab – I did not see that. It must have been hilarious!!
LOL, I remember the speech but forgot that part. He pulled no punches with it, which was a pretty brave thing to do.
I think if you read the whole article it is easier to understand his “love the bomb” statement. I am always impressed with how grounded and thoughtful he is in his personal life. WRT needing to poke fun at the blow hard right wingers- I think we as the public definitely still need and will miss the Colbert Report, but the golden age of truthiness is probably over. I understand why he feels like it is time to retire that persona.
i’ve seen some of his videos online, and don’t understand the adoration,,,,,he can be very mean . in one episode (on comedy central website) he had my husband Keanu Reeves, and asked him to “act” (to prove that he can’t act -DUH) several situations -including one where he lost a friend who died?????!!!!!!! well Kman did lose his friend river phoenix and it affected him greatly at the time so to me stephen colbert came up insensitive.
Love Stephen. Will reeeallly miss Colbchella!
he’s so right. We don’t need him to be a ridiculous satire anymore b/c Trump presents the Real Live Version of Colbert’s Blowhard persona all day, every day. there ain’t room for both!
Hahaha I watched nearly that whole Michigan public access show he crashed and then interviewed Eminem. I almost feel like Eminem wasn’t familiar with Colbert and had no idea what was going on during the interview. Brilliant comedy on Colbert’s part.
Maybe his “love the bomb” comment is similar to when I say “the best thing that happened to me was losing my parents.” Eff yeah…when I lost my folks I wanted to die. But I was going nowhere doing nothing and when I lost my parents I grew up FAST. I was no longer the stupid 20-something and became the woman that grew up to be this old woman. I miss them every day but the final lesson they taught me was how to say goodbye….and grow the hell up. So I guess you could say I also “love the bomb.”