It’s become the signature segment of his Late Show, but when Stephen Colbert first came to CBS, he wasn’t so sure he needed a monologue.
In this week’s episode of Willie Geist’s Sunday Sitdown podcast, Colbert reveals his early vision for the show. Selected to succeed David Letterman in 2015, Colbert was far from confident in his ability to step into the new role. As host of The Colbert Report for nine years, he had plenty of late-night experience—but zero experience hosting a show without playing a character.
In an attempt to do something new with his version of The Late Show, Colbert had one bold idea early on. “I was determined not to do a monologue. That was one of the first things.”
The host was only dissuaded from this idea by his old friend, mentor, and Late Show executive producer Jon Stewart.
“Jon Stewart was like, ‘So you want to completely change the form? Like, why’d you take this job?’,” Colbert recalled.
Colbert quoted Stewart’s advice that finally convinced him to keep the monologue: “Do it your own way. Do your own monologue. It will be new, because it will be you.’”
Of course Colbert’s monologue has his calling card The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, with the host often sounding off at length about current events in an increasingly political climate.
“I eventually believed him,” Colbert told Geist. “And now I wish I could do a 25-minute monologue every night. Because that’s it. That’s what I love more than anything else.”
During his interview, Colbert also revealed what finally helped him grow into the idea of playing himself onscreen: his wife, Evie McGee Colbert.
“I’d always been acting up until that moment, and suddenly I was me,” Colbert explained. “All I knew about me was that I was Evie’s husband, and so every night we had Evie someplace I could see her… So I could look at her and go, ‘Alright. That’s who I am. I’m her husband.’ And that helped a lot.”
