Asher Perlman has six months to perfect a double clutch dunk in midair with a two-handed reverse finish—and America is watching.
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert writer is the subject of the show’s newest recurring segment following a bold New Year’s resolution. Colbert brought out his writer to explain the origins of his 2025 goal, which Late Show fans will watch play out over the next half-year.
Perlman was inspired by Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant’s eye-popping dunk in a game on December 7th—which Colbert explained is technically called a “double clutch dunk in midair with a two-handed reverse finish.” While many sports outlets have called it a candidate for Dunk of the Year, Perlman had a surprisingly different reaction when he saw the dunk.
“The specific way in which I’m crazy is that I think I could do that if you gave me six months,” he texted his friends.
“That, I think we can all agree, is stark-staring madness,” Colbert told him.
But Perlman, who admits he has bad knees and recently underwent shoulder surgery, isn’t going into the endeavor completely inexperienced. When he was younger, he played on a team of home-schooled youths in an intramural league. (He says they lost every game.)
Colbert went on to introduce The Late Show’s “newest long-running segment,” titled “Prove It!” With a basketball hoop set up on the studio floor, he gave Perlman a chance to make good on his promise… but not before taking a legal precaution.
“Before we go any further with this, and this is 100% true,” Colbert said, “the CBS lawyers are making you sign a waiver.”
“I hereby agree to accept any and all risks of participating in the activity, including death,” Perlman read from the agreement.
“So they’ve got faith in you,” Colbert quipped.
Perlman then made his first attempt at dunking like Ja Morant. While he came up short, he does have 179 more days to improve his dunking skills. “You can’t get an after picture if you don’t take a before,” the writer pointed out after his failed dunk.
Perlman will make further public attempts in monthly visits to The Late Show through June.
Perlman has been a writer for The Late Show since 2019. He previously wrote for Comedy Central’s The Opposition with Jordan Klepper, and is also a cartoonist for The New Yorker. Last year, he published a book of his cartoons, titled Well, This Is Me. Colbert previously highlighted the book on The Late Show, calling one of Perlman’s works “one of my favorite cartoons of all time.”
