Stephen Colbert rarely breaks out of his Stephen Colbert character. Often, we wonder if the TV Show Guy has overwhelmed Guy Who Is Probably Sane In Real Life Guy. This Huffington Post live Twittering/blogging report from the New Yorker Festival reveals some incredible tidbits from Colbert's past, including the hilarious first-time meeting with Jon Stewart...
Check out our favorite moments:
"Jon deconstructs the news, I falsely construct the news."
[On Jane Fonda's infamous lap-only interview] Backstory: Colbert copped to having had a thing for Fonda, and had had her on the show before (with Gloria Steinem).
It had been a cooking segment, and both women had kissed him, and Evie,
he said, wasn't thrilled. (Yes, she's of a certain age, but as Colbert
said, "there's a little Barbarella left.").
Cut to the Fonda show. Said Colbert: "She brought a
game...she was a virago, she was gonna out-character me." And that is
precisely what she did (see here)
. She nibbled and blew in his ear, stroked his hair: "I was completely
off my game...it was fun. And I was truly uncomfortable." And after it
was over he discoverd that one of thecrew members had run out and
bought flowers for me to bring home. He said, "Hey, man, bring these
home to your wife." And he walked in and she took one look at the
flowers and said (sternly): "What happened?" And he said, "Well...Jane
Fonda..." and she said "I don't want them!"
And the real highlight:
[H]e was hired but had yet to meet Jon [Stewart], who had just been hired as host.
There was a press conference with the head of Comedy Central to
announce it, and Colbert, newly-minted correspondent, said, "Shouldn't
we be covering this?" So off he went, and asked a question, announcing
himself as "Stephen Colbert, Daily Show" and asked something like, "It
was my understanding that I was in the running to host the Daily Show,
how does your appointment affect my chances?" Jon looked over at the
head of Comedy Central and said, "I thought you said he wasn't funny."
Pretty auspicious beginning, I'd say.
Really, you should just read the whole thing here.
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