For years now, Stephen Colbert has been subjecting a select handful of his interview guests—movie stars, musicians, former presidents, and more—to a deeper level of questioning, in the form of his multi-part Colbert Questionert. Now, in his penultimate episode of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Colbert has finally been subjected to the in-depth series of questions himself, forced to answer such devious depths-plumbers as “What is your favorite sandwich?” and “Cats or dogs?”
But who could successfully question the Questionert Master? No one person, so Colbert and his Late Show staff instead tapped an absolutely ridiculous list of celebrity friends to subject him to a question apiece. In order, Billy Crystal, Weird Al Yankovic, Josh Brolin, Martha Stewart, Mark Hamill, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels, Tiffany Haddish, Colbert’s wife Evie McGee Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Ben Stiller, Aubrey Plaza, James Taylor, Robert De Niro, and journalist John Dickerson all hit Colbert with one ask per guest—a truly wild assemblage of talents and major and minor pop culture gods, all coming together to pay tribute to Colbert’s 11-year run on network late-night. (And, sure, you could argue that it was all a tad indulgent, but when’s a better time to get indulgent than when waiting out the last days of your TV death sentence?)
Colbert was, as ever, gracious, telling multiple well-wishers not to be too sad that his show was ending, and finally answering long-hovering queries about his least favorite smells. He also got to get sweet at the end, courtesy of the Questionert’s final demand: “Describe the rest of your life in five words.” Colbert declined to go for the joke, instead listing off a happy “My family, my friends, fun.” And with that, it’s official: Stephen Colbert is now Fully Known.
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs its final episode on Thursday, May 21.
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