Asher Perlman’s quest to dunk is “progressing… progressively.”
The Late Show writer returned for another installment of “Prove It!” Wednesday night, where he discussed his recent training regimen and made another bold attempt at a double clutch dunk in midair with a two-handed reverse finish.
As The Late Show with Stephen Colbert viewers may recall, Perlman began this challenge back in January, after watching Memphis Grizzlies point guard Ja Morant make such a dunk. “The specific way in which I’m crazy is that I think I could do that if you gave me six months,” Perlman had texted a group chat.
“So far, he’s half right, in that he is crazy,” Colbert remarked last night.
Last time on “Prove It,” Colbert gifted Perlman with a membership to a gym that boasted a basketball court. There, Perlman showed his trainer his past failed dunk attempts. Now he and the trainer are working on his “fast-twitch muscle development.”
“What is a fast-twitch muscle?” Colbert asked Perlman.
“I don’t know,” he admitted.
“Does [the trainer] think you have them?” Colbert pressed.
“I think we all have some,” answered Perlman, leading Colbert to put his head in his hands.
“Do you have any idea how much this is costing me?” a defeated Colbert asked.
Perlman also revealed that, since joining the gym, he has played a grand total of one pickup basketball game. Despite that, the writer assured Colbert he’s been working really hard on basketball-related work, and he brought a clip to prove it.
Perlman—whose work outside The Late Show includes cartoons for The New Yorker and the recently published book Well, This Is Me—debuted a cartoon of himself appearing on The Late Show and completing an interstellar dunk.
After revealing tear-away pants and going for another dunk, Perlman struggled to reach the rim, or even get the ball in the hoop.
“If possible, you’re getting lower,” Colbert told him.
After this latest failed attempt, Colbert upped the ante for his writer, gifting Perlman a personal coaching session with NBA and college championship coach Rick Pitino. (Pitino, currently the head coach at St. John’s University, was last seen in late night on The Tonight Show during March Madness.)
“Next time, you are either going to come back and dunk,” Colbert threatened Perlman, “or I’m going to drive you to your knee replacement surgery.”
