Colbert A-Z

Sharilyn, Canada, [age redacted]. Queen of the then-and-now Colbert photo sets. I co-authored "Bears & Balls: The Colbert Report A-Z", available on Amazon (http://amzn.to/1s7OvXA). 

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Colbert Collection

Any Colbert fans in the Toronto area? I’ve been collecting and preserving every magazine he’s ever been on the cover of, and am looking to give away my duplicates to someone who’d appreciate them. 

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A dedicated reporter, Stephen heroically takes on storm-tracking duties in 2001 and 2021.

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Want to watch Stephen repeatedly scream “FUCK” at one of his comedy idols? You’ve come to the right place. 

For a short time, a weekly “Global Edition” of The Colbert Report was produced, with a new intro (without a studio audience) and with notable - and often uncensored moments from that week’s shows. (If you didn’t know this existed ‘til now, you really should buy this book.)

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hearing stephen say ‘fuck’ without being censored is so satisfying

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hearing him curse without being bleep censored is the audio equivalent of seeing him with less clothes on

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There’s a lot to take in here. 

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So... this happened recently. I can’t even.

It's not easy to get this kind of access, especially to the hallways under the stage where the licence plate sign from Stephen’s old Colbert Report office hangs. I have an absurd emotional attachment to physical items from that space, and there aren’t many such relics that made the move to the Ed Sullivan Theatre. The rare times it makes an appearance in Late Show footage, my heart bursts. I’m simultaneously shook and at peace now that I finally unlocked the achievement of a pic at the desk. One of my biggest regrets was not pushing for one at the Report, because I was (stupidly) afraid to annoy my contacts there. Happy to say I got hooked up by a wonderful person who was definitely not annoyed.

(BTW, I don’t think Stephen’s chair has been cleaned since the premiere. The seat looks like every office chair you’d get assigned on your first day at work, and ask, “is there another one, maybe...?”)

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Julia Louis-Dreyfus Has “Nothing But Regret” For Elaine’s Seinfeld Fashion

Onstage with Stephen Colbert in Newark on Saturday night, the former Veep star dove in to her Saturday Night Live experience, what she’s learned about politics, and why she revealed her breast cancer diagnosis in 2017.

Hey, I’m back! Life has been nuts recently, but I did manage to swing down to NJ last weekend and cover Stephen’s annual fundraising event for Vanity Fair (this is the fourth year in a row I’ve written about it for them, and the sixth one I’ve attended). This year’s with Julia Louis-Dreyfus was one of the best yet. 

Many Stephen moments didn’t make it into my piece, but a couple I’ll share here:

He auditioned for (amongst many many things) the pilots of Ally McBeal and 21 Jump Street

An audience member asked about balancing family and work. Stephen talked about when he was working around the clock on the finale of Strangers with Candy, with a young family at home. “I thought I had to throw everything at [my career] or nothing would happen for me,” he said. He was driving home after an all-nighter, and listened to Beck’s song “Jackass.” The lyrics “I been drifting along in the same stale shoes / Loose ends tying the noose in the back of my mind” got to him. He realized he’d been putting his family second, and vowed to do better going forward. 

Silly exchange when Stephen mentioned the often-cited nude scene he did in a play when he was 19:

Julia: Was it Hair?

Stephen: No, I shaved.

And fun personal moment at the reception: Evie and I were wearing similar pants, almost a negative image of each other with sequins going down the side. I pointed it out and she was like, “we should take a picture!!” Who was I to argue? (Similar shoes and same nail polish, too.) 

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Sam Bee starring in a “hidden camera” commercial to promote Canadian cheese in 2002. Yes, that’s a sentence I just typed. 

I can state on pretty good authority that this is one of the sweeter gigs a Canadian actor can land. Needless to say, when Jon Stewart called a few years later, she was outta here.

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Jon Stewart hosted SNL in April of 2002. I just ripped my VHS of the original airing (just missing the cold open and some of the opening credits). Includes sketches that aren’t on the NBC site, and even a lot of the original commercials (which are arguably funnier than the sketches). 

Download (1.8 GB): https://we.tl/t-uPMZnnjKbA

Link valid until June 23, 2019. If you’re seeing this after that, message me; I’ll read it eventually and hook you up. 

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I recently went to my 7th Late Show taping, and successfully met a longtime goal: travelling from Toronto and back in just one day. 

Here’s how it went! All shot by yours truly day-of (minus the show footage, of course). 

Taping notes (Apr 8/19):

Stephen gave a non-answer to my question (”when was the last time you asked Jon Stewart for advice?”) by just generally talking about how they are actually friends. Nothing new there. I tried! 

Also during the Q&A, Stephen yelled over to Paul Dinello to help answer something (he stayed hidden in the producers’ alcove) and they had hilarious banter about an old Second City basketball sketch. (Stephen: “I was Pippen and you were Jordan, or I was Jordan and you were Pippen.” Paul: “Yeah, that’s right.” Stephen, exasperated: “I said it both ways!!”)

Musical guest was pretaped, but we got to to see Ruth Wilson pre-tape.

During the Galifianakis interview, Stephen stopped and said, “I’ll tell you a story, but it won’t air.” He was right. It was about how when they were making Strangers with Candy, Comedy Central made them record a voting PSA, and Amy recited dirty lyrics about Bush to the tune of Zach’s uncle’s campaign song. It was devastatingly funny, wish they’d put this stuff online. 

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Kurt Browning always jumps back in | The Star

Figure-skating hero has walked away repeatedly but you’ll find him on the ice again on May 3 in Toronto.

Y’all, I got to interview one of my favorite celebrities ever. There was a time when I wanted nothing more than to just meet this guy, so an hour of one-on-one time - and then getting to hang out and watch him practice - was beyond a dream come true. 

(Only one name left at the top of my bucket list. I’m comin’ for you eventually, Stephen Colbert.)

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Stephen’s phallic snacks in front of the “Houses of Parliament” -- fake b-roll version on The Daily Show in 2003, and the real deal on The Late Show in 2019. 

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The second I saw the notification of this upload, I literally LUNGED for my phone (I should mention I’m at *work* which has now ground to a halt).

6 minutes of pure, utter adorableness.

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Two things happened today:

1) I sold some of my photos to Maria Bamford.

2) I got my ticket confirmation for a Late Show taping.

So effectively, Stephen’s “favorite comedian on planet Earth” just funded my next flight to see him. 

(Insert Jerri Blank “life’s funny” gif.)

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Want to watch Stephen repeatedly scream “FUCK” at one of his comedy idols? You’ve come to the right place. 

For a short time, a weekly “Global Edition” of The Colbert Report was produced, with a new intro (without a studio audience) and with notable - and often uncensored moments from that week’s shows. (If you didn’t know this existed ‘til now, you really should buy this book.)

[bearsandballs]

I can’t believe it’s been over 10 years since I took this photo of Stephen at the 2008 New Yorker Festival. 

There was a strict no-cameras rule. I snuck my DSLR in, kept it on my lap under a pashmina in the front row, guessed the aim as best I could, hit the shutter whenever there was noise, and crossed my fingers. Evie was sitting two seats down from me, too. I sure had some balls. 

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In the mood to post some obscure Report-era throwbacks. Here’s Stephen’s behind-the-scenes of his Outside magazine cover shoot. 

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View this post on Instagram

“I don’t think I ever posted this but I took this on my last day at The President Show. Almost 2 years after the last episode of the Colbert Report, the final episode rundown was still up on a whiteboard. Thought it was cool.” Happened to be thinking about The Colbert Report finale today, then came across this on Instagram. Incredible that the staffs of both The Nightly Show and The President Show somehow preserved it, especially considering how much of the old studio ended up in a dumpster (ugh).