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The Stephen Colbert Exit Interview: "I Did Not Expect It To End This Way"
When Stephen Colbert landed The Late Show in 2015, he received two notable calls. One from David Letterman, whom he’d be replacing; the other from Letterman’s rival, former Tonight Show host Jay Leno.
“Jay called me right away, and he was lovely,” says Colbert, as he slips into a Leno impression: “He goes, ‘Yeah, you got the pope job. You got the job ’til you’re dead.’ Well, you were wrong on that one, Jay.”
Last July, Colbert looked straight to camera and announced that his 11th season of The Late Show would be his last. CBS, whose parent company, Paramount, was in the midst of closing a multibillion-dollar merger with David Ellison’s Skydance that required the Trump administration’s approval, insisted it was “purely a financial decision.” But the choice to cancel the No. 1 show in late night raised more than a few eyebrows, particularly as it came just two weeks after Paramount had agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a controversial lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview.
In the 10 months since, Colbert has not held back, regularly jabbing his network, its new owners’ cozy relationship with the president and reports that his show was hemorrhaging $40 million a year. Being able to be brutally honest about all of it was part of the arrangement he made with his bosses last summer. He has also continued to mercilessly critique Trump on a nightly basis.
If there is a silver lining to Colbert’s unexpected ouster, it’s that he is now able to be intimately involved in co-writing an installment of the Lord of the Rings film franchise. The project is already six years in the making and a lifelong dream for the self-proclaimed superfan. And though he isn’t ready to sign on to any other projects just yet, he began fielding scripts immediately after he announced his Late Show chapter would conclude. He says he could see “creating another show,” too, and that his desire to perform will always be there. He jokes: “Got to stay in front of the lens, baby.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/stephen-colbert-interview-late-show-end-1236585528/
“Jay called me right away, and he was lovely,” says Colbert, as he slips into a Leno impression: “He goes, ‘Yeah, you got the pope job. You got the job ’til you’re dead.’ Well, you were wrong on that one, Jay.”
Last July, Colbert looked straight to camera and announced that his 11th season of The Late Show would be his last. CBS, whose parent company, Paramount, was in the midst of closing a multibillion-dollar merger with David Ellison’s Skydance that required the Trump administration’s approval, insisted it was “purely a financial decision.” But the choice to cancel the No. 1 show in late night raised more than a few eyebrows, particularly as it came just two weeks after Paramount had agreed to pay Trump $16 million to settle a controversial lawsuit over a 60 Minutes interview.
In the 10 months since, Colbert has not held back, regularly jabbing his network, its new owners’ cozy relationship with the president and reports that his show was hemorrhaging $40 million a year. Being able to be brutally honest about all of it was part of the arrangement he made with his bosses last summer. He has also continued to mercilessly critique Trump on a nightly basis.
If there is a silver lining to Colbert’s unexpected ouster, it’s that he is now able to be intimately involved in co-writing an installment of the Lord of the Rings film franchise. The project is already six years in the making and a lifelong dream for the self-proclaimed superfan. And though he isn’t ready to sign on to any other projects just yet, he began fielding scripts immediately after he announced his Late Show chapter would conclude. He says he could see “creating another show,” too, and that his desire to perform will always be there. He jokes: “Got to stay in front of the lens, baby.”
https://www.hollywoodreporter.com/tv/tv-features/stephen-colbert-interview-late-show-end-1236585528/