After having a rough start to the summer and getting shut out of Emmy nominations yesterday, Stephen Colbert may be looking for ways to get his comedy reputation back on track. He’s starting by covering both upcoming political conventions live on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, beginning this week with the Republican National Convention in Cleveland.
Colbert said in an interview with CBS This Morning that the idea for doing live coverage was motivated by a need to stay “as topical as possible.” He goes on to say, “We don’t want somebody else to be able to pick the chicken,” which seems to translate as: “We want to get to the joke first.”
Colbert says his weeks of live coverage will be “sponsored by Adderall and Red Bull,” but he’ll have some help with an appearance by his longtime comedy colleague Jon Stewart, and a possible return of his Colbert Report character. In the same interview with CBS This Morning, he was asked about the difference between doing The Late Show coverage as himself versus his Comedy Central alter-ego. In response, Colbert avoided eye contact and admitted, “It doesn’t mean he won’t show up. He’s very needy and he loves the limelight, maybe even more than I do.”
Colbert also teased a musical number is to kick off the week’s coverage, as well as a slew of celebrity guests, so it seems like he’s primed and ready to pick as many chickens as possible.
