CBS’ The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will mark the 15th anniversary of The Book of Mormon‘s Broadway debut this Monday, March 16.
Colbert that night will welcome as guests not just Trey Parker, Matt Stone and Robert Lopez, the trio responsible for the long-running Broadway musical’s music, lyrics and book, but also Andrew Rannells, one of Mormon‘s original pair of leads. (Josh Gad was originally set to also be a guest, but instead is tending to a family matter.)
The Late Show will also host a performance by Rannells, of one of the musical comedy’s tunes.
The tenth-longest running show on Broadway, the longest-running show in the 100-year history of the Eugene O’Neill Theatre, and a nine-time Tony Award winner, The Book Of Mormon follows “a mismatched pair of Mormons sent on a mission to a place that’s about as far from Salt Lake City as you can get”—Uganda.
Rannells and Gad fronted the original staging as devout missionary-to-be Elder Kevin Price and his pop culture-obsessed trainee Elder Arnold Cunninghamwhile Nikki M. James played Nabulungi, the missionaries’ host during their unexpected stint in Uganda. (Kevin Clay and Eidgo Enrico currently play Elder Price and Elder Cunningham, alongside Sydney Quildon as Nabulungi.)
Stephen Colbert himself was an early fan of the hit stage musical-comedy, tweeting back in February 2012, “I loved The Book of Mormon! My favorite part—bragging that I got tickets to The Book of Mormon!” (Indeed, it was the hottest of tickets back in the day.)
Rannells and Gad have separately visited Colbert’s Late Show multiple times over the years, and prior to Gad bowing out, this would have marked their first paired appearance on the CBS talker. (The multi-talented actors did joint appearances on NBC’s Late Night with Jimmy Fallon in February 2012 and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon in October 2023, the latter pegged to their Broadway staging of Gutenberg! The Musical.)
Similarly, longtime writing partners Stone and Parker have appeared together multiple times on both ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! and Comedy Central’s The Daily Show—all at the height of Mormon mania circa 2011/2012—but this will be their first joint visit to Colbert’s Late Show.
