Matthew McConaughey’s appearance on Monday’s The Late Show brought an unexpected surprise for those who have followed Stephen Colbert’s career. As it turns out, The Dark Tower star and very chill dude was a big fan of Colbert’s sketch comedy show Exit 57, his first stab at Comedy Central in the years before Strangers With Candy and The Daily Show. The two had a long and entertaining chat about a variety of subjects, but a good chunk was spent for McConaughey to discuss his love of this sketch show from 1994 and one sketch in particular that he’s kept alive with his friend all these years.
McConaughey has just been walking around calling his friend “Merkin” all these years without knowing the true meaning of the word, attributing it instead to Exit 57. That’s funny and the entire chat with McConaughey is a typical delight, but Colbert’s honest reaction to the love of his old comedy bits is so much better. They were apparently going to do another sketch or skit as McConaughey keeps saying, but scrapped it in favor of recreating the sketch from Exit 57.
If there’s anything proves the power of McConaughey’s star status, its a late night network television talk show devoting an entire segment to recreating a sketch from a show that about a dozen people know about according to Colbert. There’s a lot of Wild Turkey floating around all interview since McConaughey is the spokesman for the company, leading to both men drinking a few times throughout the show. Colbert introduces a competitor called “Savage Cock” at one point, which is clearly less bourbon and more paint thinner. Or maybe it’s just water and we’re entranced by all the television magic.
This leads to the pair going back over some of McConaughey’s most famous catchphrases or “McConaughey-isms” from across the actor’s career. Then he just goes into some free-form McConaugheying, leading to some things that probably make no sense at all while still sounding really cool because he’s saying them. He’s also spot on about churning out bumper stickers. We’d likely buy every one.
(Via The Late Show)
