Ruff Crowd: Go Backstage With The Late Show Dogs

The Ed Sullivan Theater evoked less Beatlemania, more beagle-mania last week.

Elias Weiss Friedman, the famed pet photographer behind The Dogist Instagram account, dropped by the offices of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert last week to meet some of the staffers’ dogs—including Colbert’s own pup.

The collaboration was in celebration of National Take Your Dog to Work Day, which took place on Friday, June 21. Among the doggos who celebrated the holiday at The Late Show was Colbert’s own dog, Benny.

Benny is a Boykin Spaniel, which is the state dog of South Carolina (where the host grew up). Colbert first introduced viewers to Benny back in late 2019, when he was just a puppy.

Colbert described Benny as a dog “who wants to be loved on his own terms.” The pup accompanies the host to work each day, which Colbert says makes his job a little bit easier because “he likes me whether or not I’m funny.” 

Colbert didn’t grow up with dogs, but they’ve become a regular presence in his comedy career.

“My writing partner for 17 years was Paul Dinello,” Colbert told The Dogist. “His dog, Cagney, was like our third writing partner.”

“The old show, The Colbert Report, was a dog-friendly building,” the host added.

Canines are also a very welcome presence at The Daily Show, where Colbert began his career as a writer and correspondent. The Daily Show highlights its staffers’ pets on its popular Daily Show Dogs Instagram account, and just last week kicked off “InDogCision” initiative—a series of voter registration/pet adoption events that will coincide with their coverage of the 2024 presidential election.

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