Asher Perlman is still on his quest to perfect an elaborate slam dunk.
Six weeks after launching his campaign to pull off a double clutch dunk in midair with a two-handed reverse finish, the Late Show with Stephen Colbert staff writer was back on the show Wednesday night to make a second attempt.
Perlman’s self-challenge, sponsored by Colbert, first came about after Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant made an impressive dunk in a December game. “The specific way in which I’m crazy is that I think I could do that if you gave me six months,” Perlman texted a group of friends. That led Colbert to debut a new segment, titled “Prove It,” holding his writer’s feet to the fire via monthly dunk attempts on air. Perlman came up short on the first dunk.
Before going for the dunk again, Perlman provided Colbert with an update on how his training has been going. Basically, it hasn’t.
Asked why his first “Prove It” update is coming two weeks late, Perlman revealed he’s already been injured. “Three weeks ago, I threw my back out,” he revealed.
“Playing basketball?” Colbert asked.
“Sitting in a chair,” the writer replied. “This happens every four months or something.”
Perlman also admitted he’s only made one trip to a basketball court to practice since his first on-air attempt—but he had a valid excuse. “The gym I go to doesn’t have a basketball court, and the only one that’s close to me is outdoors, and it’s been cold,” he explained.
“We started this challenge in January. Of course it’s been cold,” Colbert argued. “That did not occur to you?”
Following their chat, Perlman went on to make a second attempt at a double clutch dunk in midair with a two-handed reverse finish — or, really, any dunk at all. Again, he didn’t quite make it.
Colbert’s review: “Not sure if that’s better, not sure if that’s different.”
However, the host left his writer with a parting gift that will hopefully give him an upper hand in the ongoing contest.
“I’m going to hook you up with a membership to a gym that has an indoor basketball court,” Colbert announced at the end of the segment. “So you can actually train to do the thing that your psychotic delusion leads you to believe that you can do.”
Perlman’s next dunk attempt on “Prove It” will come next month—unless he’s sidelined with another injury.
