Stephen Colbert prolonged his Thanksgiving break on Tuesday with a pre-taped episode, in which multiple guests interviewed him, rather than the conventional host-guest rituals followed on late night TV. The first stretch saw Colbert’s old friend and former The Daily Show colleague, Jon Stewart, taking over the reins. Naturally, Stewart showed up in retirement-sweatshirt mode, and right out of the gate, he demanded to know, “Who the f*ck do you think you are?” This adversarial tone didn’t last long, and the entire interview is a delight to witness, but at around 9:30, Stewart got real while explaining how he views the business from which he retired and where Colbert continues to toil:
“You and I both famously know we were turd miners. We toiled in the turd mines. We both lost many people close to us to turd lung. It’s been a terrible thing. So working at The Daily Show, I felt as though I was toiling in the turd mines and then I finally quit and then a giant turd asteroid heads towards the planet. In this instance, if someone said, ‘You were a turd miner. This is the largest turd deposit ever seen. Don’t you wish you were in there?’ And you’re just like, ‘I’m out of the turd business. I’m out.'”
Of course, Stewart made no secret of the asteroid in question’s identity, which gave him an opportunity to insert his notorious old nickname for Donald Trump, “F*ckface Von Clownstick,” into the mix. He also effusively commended Colbert for continuing on a nightly basis and “spewing out rainbow-colored sprinkles” when confronted with any manner of toxins.
Other segment highlights include Stewart ribbing Colbert about the “high-status conservative idiot” who used to host in Comedy Central’s post-The Daily Show slot, along with several other well-timed barbs from both corners. The actual “interview” questions here are amusing, but more than anything, it’s lovely to see these two bouncing off each other again, chatting about when Al Sharpton refused to show up, last minute, as scheduled. Good times.
