September 18, 2015 - Lupita Nyong’o, Bernie Sanders, Christopher Wheeldon, Robert Fairchild, Leanne Cope

Episode Guide EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 9 (Friday, September 18, 2015)
GUESTS: Lupita Nyong’o | Bernie Sanders | Chris Wheeldon | Robert Fairchild | Leanne Cope
SEGMENTS: Monologue | America is Getting Its Bern Notice | Female Viagra is Coming | Lupita Nyong’o | Senator Bernie Sanders | Christopher Wheeldon | Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope - “An American in Paris”
SUIT REPORT: Dark Blue Suit | Light Blue Shirt | Dark Maroon Patterned Tie

Monologue

After much high kicking, spinning, dancing and a little panting, Stephen finally began his second ever, wait! Make that third ever Friday night show - lookin’ at you Thursday night football - in front of an audience full of Bernie Sanders supporters.

  • Actress, Lupita Nyong’o is here. Oscar winner. She might be our first Oscar winner. She was born in Mexico, and raised in Kenya, so she fills out every square in the ‘Donald Trump Fear Bingo’ card.

Tonight’s show is brought to you by …

America is Getting Its Bern Notice

There’s currently a presidential race going on. But one thing you may not have noticed, and thankfully we have kind folk like Stephen to point it out to us, is that there are also Democrats running. Who knew? I thought it was just Trump, that other Bush, and that cute guy behind Jake Tapper on CNN.

  • The 2016 presidential race is gearing up, because lately the news is full of disturbing reminders that there is a place called, Iowa.
  • Hillary Clinton’s got the name recognition, she’s got tons of cash, and seven enchanted horcrux’s. But a funny thing happened on the way to her nomination, and that is Vermont Senator and guy in front of you at the deli trying to return salami, Bernie Sanders.
  • [Bernie Sanders] is a self describe socialist, who would also be our oldest president ever. The man is 74 years old. That’s five years older than Donald Trump, and 50 years older than anyone Donald Trump would marry.
  • A guy in his 70’s filling stadiums. Who does he think he is? A Rolling Stone?

Female Viagra is Coming

  • Today, we can give a 91 year old man sitting outdoors in cold bath water an erection that will last for 6 hours. Or the rest of his life, which ever comes first.
  • That’s right, female Viagra, is called, ‘Flibanserin’. Combing “F” for female, “Lib” as in libido, and “Anserin”, as in answering all the prays of all those old men with petrified wood.
  • And, it works-ish, because women who took Flibanserin in clinical trials reported ‘two to three of what they defined as “sexually satisfying events” per month’. That’s an increase from of ‘one event per month more than for women who got a placebo’. Though, far fewer than women who skipped the study and went to see ‘Magic Mike XXL’.
  • Of course, both subject groups reported less satisfaction than patients who were given Ecstasy and released into a bouncy castle.
  • If you’re taking Flibanserin you cannot drink and since it’s a daily pill, that means total abstinence from alcohol. Because nothing gets you in the mood, like starring at your long time partner stone cold sober.

Interview — Lupita Nyong’o

The lovely Lupita Nyong’o dropped by the Ed Sull to talk about her new play, ‘Eclipsed’. Despite having achieved such great success in her career, Lupita admitted to having suffered ‘acute impostor syndrome’, something Stephen knows all about after a decade on ‘The Colbert Report’. Lupita and Stephen also bonded over their enjoyment of doing embarrassing things in public, and showed off their silly walks, with Stephen doing the “really cool guy who can’t walk down stairs”, and Lupita nailing the “paranoid person whose pants are falling down”.

Interview — Senator Bernie Sanders

Bernie Sanders was welcomed onto the show with a sound rare to Stephen’s ears … the sound of the audience chanting someone else’s name. Clearly pro-Bernie, the audience applauded his vision for a United States that followed the more socialist Scandinavian model, and one in which the rich does not keep gettting richer, and the poor does not keep getting poorer. Stephen brought up the fact that Bernie is one of the few candidates who do not have a Super PAC, and that by doing so, he is not using everything available to a presidential candidate to further their campaign. But Bernie, does not support the agenda or corporate America or the billionaire class, but instead wants to run a people’s not billionaire’s campaign.

Sanders: Look, clearly we want a society which encourages entrepreneurship and innovation. But what we also want is a society in which all of our people can enjoy a decent standard of living, and not a society in which the very rich get much richer while virtually everybody else gets poorer.
Colbert: But in concrete terms what does that mean, is that like an 80% tax rate —
Sanders: In concrete terms, what it means is that it is a moral outrage that the top one-tenth of one percent today owns almost as much wealth as the bottom 90 percent, and that 58 percent of all new income is going to the top one percent. That major corporations making billions of dollars a year, in some cases, don’t pay a nickel in federal taxes. That is the outrage, and that has got to change.

Colbert: What do you say to the people out there who are comparing you to Donald Trump, and saying that you are exciting or taking advantage of the same general anger that Donald Trump is?
Sanders: I think that what Trump is doing is appealing to the baser instincts among us: xenophobia and, frankly, racism. [He’s] describing an entire group of people (in this case Mexicans) as rapists or as criminals… That’s the same old thing that’s gone on in this country for a very long time. You target some group of people, and you go after them. You take people’s anger, and you turn it against them—you win votes on it. I think that is disgraceful and not something we should be doing in 2015. What I am talking about is a vision that goes beyond telling us we have to hate a group of people. What I am talking about is saying that, in the wealthiest country in the history of the world, there are extraordinary things that we can do when people come together—black and white and gay and straight—and demand the government start working for all of us—not just a few.

Interview — Chris Wheeldon

Chris Wheeldon teaches Stephen Colbert some basic choreography.

Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope - “An American in Paris”

Robert Fairchild and Leanne Cope perform a scene from “An American in Paris”.

  • CN Helper

    I am getting used to these Friday shows. They are fun! Stephen was cutting loose with Jon, and they were interacting a lot, which was nice to see. Loved that whole diatribe about “being a country boy with a TV show,” that just made me smile.

    Lupita was really great with Stephen. She is so lovely, and I loved her embarrassing walk. I don’t know, she seems pretty cool no matter what she does.

    I liked seeing Bernie Sanders up there, his momentum is incredible. The segment Stephen did on his campaign very Report-esque and needed, really. This show has so many Report elements, the news footage playback, even the old character popping up. During the Sanders interview, Stephen took the opposing view to discuss Sanders policy positions, which was effective. But it was the character, only not so angry.

    And then, the American in Paris performance was beautiful. As I am watching, I wonder how they stuff all these guests and segments in one show!

    • K.V. Lady

      Yes, I loved all that too

  • LeeJS

    Another enjoyable episode to round off an up and down week. After Wednesday’s fast-forward-through-most-of-it show, this was another high. Even the musical number was worth watching, which is a first on any Colbert episode ever for me!

    Highlight of the night was seeing ‘Stephen’ back in the interview seat with Bernie Sanders. If I was an American I’d vote for that guy. But if he wasn’t running I’d vote for Sanders instead.

    • CN Helper

      Glad to hear you liked it!

  • DeeCee

    I felt that in the Thurs. and Fri. episodes that Stephen has started to hit his stride. Here are just some reasons I particularly liked Friday’s show…
    — I like when he does two “desk” segments in part because it reminds me of TCR, but I think more because it is where Stephen feels most comfortable and is most effective.
    -Friday was his best “celebrity” interview IMO.
    -With the Bernie Sanders interview I think Stephen has already solidified LSSC “the place” to go for any politician who wants to engage in serious conversation on a late night show.
    -Overall I felt that the timing of the overall show is getting better — looked like fewer of those cuts in the middle of interviews etc.
    -Glad to end the show with a Broadway performance instead of country music (but that is just me).
    -Only negative is I do wish he’d stop “posing” at the start of the show when he first comes out. I’d rather he take one nice bow, recognize the great audience and get on with it. All that preening seems more like something the character would do. I think he still isn’t quite comfortable when he is standing up in front of the audience.
    -And let’s be honest, any Friday show is a bonus!!!!

    • CN Helper

      I agree with your observations wholeheartedly. I think he is still weirded out by coming out and standing! He’ll get used to it. I do like him standing though, I don’t like him or anyone shackled to a desk.

      • DeeCee

        I agree, the show is still a bit of a work in progress. He’ll get more comfortable and adapt I’m sure. Again, I think there have been really good improvements just in the two weeks.

    • LeeJS

      The whole ‘dancing around to start the show’ thing is going to get old very quickly. He needs to mix that up. Maybe sometimes high five with the audience, ride a unicycle, juggle, play a fake trumpet; there’s a hundred things he could do. Anything but do the stupid leg dance day after day.

      I also don’t like seeing shots of the audience being made to stand and cheer. It felt natural on the Report but here it feels more forced. I saw one guy who was clearly uncomfortable. Showing them every day feels too much like telling us: “Look! Everyone really loves Stephen!”

      • DeeCee

        I’m not a TV person, but I’d try starting with Jon Batiste & Stay Human dancing/playing in the audience for a minute and then moving up to the stage- then Stephen can comes out as the band is onstage and he can high five Jon Batiste or something, Stephen can then take a bow, say hi and thank the band and the audience, and then start the show. It might be a nice way to give the band a more prominent role and it could show the audience is a nicer way.

      • CN Helper

        I was surprised that the warm up comic was really pushing everyone to chant “Stephen! Stephen!” You’re right, it did work on the Report and served the character, but here it is a little out of context, particularly if you are new to him and unfamiliar with the old work. I personally was very comfortable with it, but I agree, making it less Stephen-centric is really better for him in the long run.

      • CN Helper

        Also, if you are referring to guests in the balcony, some of the folks may have been dragged in from the street - there are 400 seats to fill in the new space — so we have to forgive their lack of cold-thusiasm. They will get there.

        • weasley_isourking

          If only I could get dragged from the street to see Colbert! In all seriousness, I completely agree. The leg-kicking bit will get old, and the band could be given more air-time in the beginning (rather than Colbert quipping every day after the opening “What’s that I hear? Is that Jon Baptiste and Stay Human?”)

          • K.V. Lady

            I make that Baptiste mistake all the time too.

    • Kidney

      I kinda agree on the standing part, though i gotta admit that i fell in love with the moment the funky riff kicks in and you just know the whole thing is about to start!

      My only hope on that matter is, that he does something more with it camerawise, like coming a few steps nearer to deliver that final joke of the monologue. Other than that, the sudden cut to the intro also feels kind of weird to me. One second you see him in full monologue mode sorrounded by a funky riff, the next you’re into the animated-ish intro and it’s standard theme music.

      • weasley_isourking

        I also love the funky riff - I think the transition will get smoother as the days go by.

        I’m actually really in love with the intro animation + music. The blend between the claymation and real-life New York is too cool (I think I spotted an animated Stephen on the rooftop!), and the ending zoom-in on the studio and cut to Colbert at his desk is a great transition. Maybe with time, they will customize the intro to fit different events/seasons!

        • Kidney

          That’s an awesome idea to go with the seasons! As perfect as the intro seems to be now, i’m actually kind of surprised Stephen and the whole team did some extra shooting for it. Like the party on the roof at night, where he (I think it was according to the New York Times article, or was it GQ?) purposefully dressed up in his favourite blue suit to shoot the footage. The only thing that’s left from the shooting might be the view from the sky now, but i’m still interested what the graphic department had in mind in it’s original draft.

          Oh, and I gladly remember one of the press articles also refering to it as the best intro on Late Night television right now!

    • K.V. Lady

      I actually like the posing/dancing at the begininng, but that’s just me.

  • Katt

    I don’t think Stephen has found the perfect pen to chew on for the new show. He keeps switching them, or throwing and dropping them all over the place.

    Loved the Poltergeist clip! And Lupita Nyong’o was a delightful guest, probably my favourite celebrity interview so far.

    I’m not into American politics, but I like that Bernie Sanders came across as being a lot more genuine and to the point than most candidates. Someone who doesn’t beat around the bush, is such a refreshing change. They should call him ‘No Bullshit Bernie’.

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

      I loved the ‘Poltergeist’ clip, too! “What’s happening?!”

    • weasley_isourking

      I volunteer my pen for tribute.

  • Kidney

    I freaked out when he said the following right after the first segment about Bernie: “When you see this man – when you listen to that album – I refuse to believe that any focus group asked for that.”

    It has this Word-like bottom-line feel to it, which he did a couple of times already.

  • weasley_isourking

    On the interview with Bernie Sanders: I really like how Stephen asked Sanders legitimate questions about his platform. Bernie Sanders stands for great progressive ideas, but it was interesting to hear Stephen ask him how he planned to implement those changes. I remember questions along the lines of “Will there be an 80% flat tax rate?” and “You don’t have a Super Pac - that’s like bringing a spoon to a knife fight”.

    I think as a South Carolinian, Stephen brings an ability to empathize with both conservative and liberal ideas, which is why he was able to embody his character for so long - he grew up around people who believe in ideas that his character did! He’s able to grill both sides equally, and that’s a trait of a great interviewer. I know we’ll see more interviews like this one in the future.

    • CN Helper

      That’s a good point about being sympathetic to South Carolina values! I never thought about it like that. Thanks weasley!

      • weasley_isourking

        I’m very glad that this country boy got his T.V. show!

  • High__Voltage

    Hello. After the first part of the Bernie Sanders interview, as they went into commercials, the band played a melody I really liked (around the 30 minute mark) and I would love to know which song it was, is there a list or something where you can look it up? Thanks!

    By the way, googling for information brought me to this website which looks perfect for any Colbert fan. I’ll be keeping this in my drawer of interests. ^.^

    • Gina (aka CN Helper)

      Welcome to the site! I will see if I can find out about the song

      • High__Voltage

        Thanks. I tried both Shazam and SoundHound to no avail. It’s not too big of a deal though, don’t exhaust yourself/selves in any way. ^.^

    • http://www.colbertnewshub.com/ Colbert News Hub

      You could try using the Shazam App.