September 15, 2015 - Jake Gyllenhaal, Tim Cook, Run The Jewels, TV on the Radio

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Episode Guide EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 6 (Tuesday, September 15, 2015)
GUESTS: Jake Gyllenhaal | Tim Cook | Run The Jewels | TV on the Radio
SEGMENTS: One Week Anniversary | The Hungry for Power Games | Ohio is Going Green | Jake Gyllenhaal | Tim Cook | Run the Jewels with TV on the Radio - “Angel Duster”
SUIT REPORT: Grey Suit | White Shirt | Grey Stripped Tie

Happy One Week Anniversary of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert! In this episode Stephen compared the potential presidential nominees to The Hunger Games. Ohio has a new pro-marijuana mascot named Buddy, who looks like less of a buddy and more of a nightmare. Jake Gyllenhaal and Stephen discuss the craft of acting and have some dessert. Apple CEO, Tim Cook, talks about the iPhone and why he wanted to let the world know about his truth as a gay man. Run the Jewels and TV on the Radio end the episode with a stellar musical performance. Enjoy your Episode Guide, Hubsters!

Monologue

Stephen bounded out onto the stage joyfully in what seems to be his signature entrance - dancing and getting down with Jon Batiste. Stephen congratulated everyone on the one week anniversary of the Late Show. He got us the tradition one week anniversary present of 200 more shows. Stephen had to drop a few pounds over the summer, because his new fashionable suits are slim-fitting. His pants, as he said, technically qualify as Spanx. To trim down, Stephen has been watching what he is eating and so is New York City. Starting this December, restaurants will warn you if their food contains more than the recommended daily limit of salt, by printing a black triangle with a salt shaker in it, next to the item on the menu. That will be difficult for fast food restaurants, because the item on the menu that contains the lowest amount of salt is the salt packet.

  • Pope Francis says that when he visits here next week he wants to have a New York hotdog. So, if you weren’t doing it already, pray for him.

The Hungry For Power Games

2016 is the fifth presidential race in which Stephen has graced our televisions, starting, of course, with The Daily Show. Covering the 2016 election is one of the reasons Stephen took the job to host the Late Show.

  • America has been captivated by the spectacle of of 22 political warriors ruthlessly battling in the arena for our support. It’s like The Hunger Games. No. It’s more than that. It’s the Hungry For Power Games!

While wearing a blue wig, sipping champagne, and laughing manically, he orders the candidates to assemble. Stephen parodies The Hunger Games, using the 2016 possible presidential nominees as tributes. However, Rick Perry dropped out of the presidential race over the weekend. Perry was polling at only 0.8%, well behind “none of them” at 4%.

  • But Governor Perry knew how to make the most of his final moment in the arena, telling a supporter before his speech, “We’ll make a little history here.” Yes, it’s like the old saying, “History is made by those who quit 14 months before the thing happens.”

Stephen bids farewell to Rick Perry by casting his face on the ceiling dome. As somber music plays, Stephen places Perry’s “smart guy glasses” into a tiny coffin. He salutes the coffin and then tosses it into the trash can. Mr. Perry, we shall miss ye.

Ohio Is Going Green

  • Parents, this next segment contains references to recreational drug use, so you might want your children to leave the room before they see you getting these jokes.

Ohio will likely become the next state to legalize marijuana for recreational use. Ohioans support legalization 52% to 44%. There is a new mascot on college campuses to appeal to the youth vote. His name is Buddy, The Marijuana Mascot.

Now first of all, if you’re a college student who’s high and you see Buddy, I’m not sure you’re gonna go to the voting booth. I’m pretty sure you’re gonna check yourself into a psych ward.

Interview - Jake Gyllenhaal

Stephen sat down with Jake Gyllenhaal, who told Stephen that is an honor to be on the show. Jake is Stephen’s one week anniversary gift to himself! Stephen showed pictures of how Jake has had to transform his look in movies. He got jacked in South Paw and lost 30 pounds for Nightcrawler.

Stephen: Have you ever taken a character home, because I’d hate to see you take Nightcrawler home. Because I took my character home - on the old show - I took it home by accident a few times. My wife knew right away and said, “Get the hell out of this house and come back as the guy I married.” Did you ever make the mistake and bring it into your life?
Jake: I am Lou Bloom, the character in Nightcrawler, so that was easy for me to be. I’m just pretending to be me right now. Does that make sense?
Stephen: It’s scary. It’s scary.
Jake: Yeah, of course. They seep into you after awhile and I think that’s why it’s call a “craft.” I think that you prepare yourself with technique and education and you analyze enough and you learn about the craft of acting so that you don’t get too lost.

Let them eat cake! Amy Schumer was a guest on last Friday’s show. While out in LA, Amy rented Jake’s house and found a birthday cake in his freezer. While inebriated, Amy’s sister filmed her eating the leftover cake. Stephen showed the clip to Jake. Suddenly, from under his desk, Stephen pulled out the cake and Jake laughed with delight. Jake sent a message back to Amy and took a bite out of the cake. Stephen wanted some cake, too! Jake insisted that Stephen take a bite where he bit. Stephen does and Jake is over-joyed, screaming, “Yes!”

Interview - Tim Cook

Stephen discussed the new iPhone 6S and pulled out his own, making it clear that Apple did not give it to him and they are not getting it back. Tim explained one of the new features on the phone, 3D Touch, which impressed Stephen immensely. Tim then explained Live Photo and Stephen demonstrated it on his phone, in a very funny way. Stephen recorded Tim on his phone discussing Apple’s super secret driver-less car. Tim then talked about his admiration for Steve Jobs. Tim bravely discussed being a gay man.

Stephen: As sort of a resident outsider, because of your sexuality, did that inform in any way, your trying to help people who are in hardship around the world?
Tim: It did. Yeah. In all honesty, everyday I come to work - I have right in front of my desk - I have a photo of Robert Kennedy and a photo of Dr. King. And everyday I sort of ask myself - it was Dr. King’s quote - it said, “Life’s most persistent and urgent question is: What are you going to do for others?” And it became so clear to me that kids are getting bullied in school, kids were getting, basically, discriminated against, kids were even being disdained by their own parents. And that I needed to do something. And that where I valued my privacy significantly, I felt I was valuing it too far above what I could do for other people. And so I wanted to tell everyone my truth.

Musical Performance - Run the Jewels with TV on the Radio

Run the Jewels with TV on the Radio gave a stirring performance to wrap up the one week anniversary of the Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Did you enjoy this episode? What were your favorite moments? Let us know in the comment section!

  • sharilyn_j

    I love how well things are going this soon — at least from what I can tell watching it, and without knowing how much alcohol is being consumed in the editing room. But this was another great episode. I loved the Hunger Games thing. It was the perfect silly/smart mix. Also, I sure hope those weren’t his own hipster glasses he put into the mini coffin. He’s gonna need those for a piece that was hopefully going to air tonight but obviously got pushed. 😉

  • CN Helper

    I agree, Sharilyn, things are settling in nicely. There’s not much to critique. It’s clear that Stephen is going to be a very different kind of late night host. I like how he can’t interview a person and be flippant or non-substantive in his questioning. It may make the starlets squirm a little bit, but no matter.

    As he gets more comfortable in this venue, I think he should try to “share the stage” and continue to make it less about him. The I think having a proper announcer is good first step, I like hearing his voice anywhere, but it would lend to a little diversity. As I said yesterday, utilize Jon and the band more, and maybe go in the audience and do bits there. When I went to a test taping, the warm up guy had a lot of fun just picking out a few folks and running with it. I thought to myself, “well that’s a whole segment right there!”

    It’s strange for me to watch this show, because I was so attached to the old one. It got to the point that I could anticipate what segments were coming up just by Stephen’s tone or turn of phrase, like “heads up! A Word is coming, a Tip of the Hat…” etc. I don’t have a sense of the structure of this show yet (I don’t think anyone does), but I will figure it out!

    I guess the difference between the old show and this one is that with TCR, Stephen was like a comedy engineer who was basically deconstructing and reconstructing reality. In essence, the entire show was a play on logic. This show seems to have an entirely different DNA. It seems more like Stephen is a doctor injecting the viewer with a dose of happy before they go to bed. That is also an altruistic thing, albeit different from the old form. I’ll take it.

  • Katt

    I loved the Hunger Games segment, and little coffin, but I felt the next segment on Ohio fell a little flat. And the interview with Jake Gyllenhaal really did nothing to sell the movie, or even really mention it. Which I found quite disappointing. I feel as though celeb interviews are going to be his achilles heel. I’d rather see him give more air time to non-movie guests, those interviews are always good and surprisingly funny at times.

  • Amanda Wells

    Being from Ohio, the segment about Ohio going green, was pretty funny to me, we have had the stories about it on our news stations for months and the mascot is just ridiculous. The hunger games segment was just brilliant, I’ve never watched the movies or read the books, but even I got those jokes. Out of the two interviews from the show, I thought the one with Tim Cook was more interesting. But there was some funny parts with Jake Gyllenhall, the cake part at the end was hilarious.

  • http://www.colbertnewshub.com/ Clem79

    Stephen in that wig was hilarious! I figured that Amy Schumer’s late night drunken cake eating in Jake’s house would return. I loved how Jake and Stephen took a chomp out of the cake! The touching moment in this episode was Tim Cook talking about being a gay man and helping others in need. I can see Stephen getting more and more comfortable with every episode. We all know he was born to do this.