EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 19 (Friday, October 2, 2015)
GUESTS: Morgan Freeman | Ruth Wilson | Sean Murray
SEGMENTS: Monologue | Some Thoughts on Pretending and Honesty | Nerds vs. Robots | Morgan Freeman | Ruth Wilson | Sean Murray
SUIT REPORT: Dark Blue Suit | White Shirt | Dark Blue Patterned Tie
Monologue
Stephen walked out onto the stage, sans dance moves. The United Nations is wrapping up their General Assembly and, according to Stephen, their free parking festival. They committed to some nobel goals, including eradicating global poverty by the year 2030. This is something that Stephen truly believes in. Although, it would sound a lot less nobel coming from a super villain. Stephen gets close up to the camera, doing his best super villain impression. “If all goes according to plan, I shall rid the world of all poor people. Oh, yes.”
- In Maine this week, a dog had to be rescued after driving a pick-up truck into a lake. The dog is fine, but it really hurt his Uber rating.
Some Thoughts on Pretending and Honesty
Stephen discussed pretending. He pretended to be a certain person on TV for nine years. He is pretending to know what he is doing on the Late Show every night and so is Jon Batiste. They are discovering the show as they go along. Stephen then gave a beautiful and humble speech about the shootings in Roseburg, Oregon. He was able to put into words what so many people have been thinking.
Before we get started here tonight, I just want to take a moment right here at the beginning to talk about something. I want to talk about pretending. That is something that I know a little bit about. I pretended to be a certain person, and to feel a certain way for almost 10 years, and now, I am supposedly not pretending every night. Though occasionally I am pretending to know what I am doing out here. […] We’re discovering the show as we go along. And it’s like learning to play a new instrument in public. […] But whether we hit the right notes on any given night, I think that the least we can do is not always pretend to know what to do or say.
In the face of the killings in Oregon yesterday I honestly don’t know what to do or say, other than our hearts are broken for the people who were struck by this senseless tragedy. And, I don’t know how to start a show like this, which is often about whatever happened in the last 24 hours. I can’t pretend that it didn’t happen, I also can’t pretend to know what to do to prevent what happened yesterday all the times it’s happened before. But I think pretending is part of the problem. These things happen over and over again, and we are naturally horrified and shocked when we hear about them. But then we change nothing, and we pretend that it won’t happen again. Some say the answer is stricter gun laws, others say is mental health care, that we need better treatment, or just keep the guns out of the hands of the insane. Maybe it’s both. I honestly don’t know. But what I do know is one of the definitions of insanity is changing nothing, and then pretending that something will change.
Since Stephen is talking about honest insanity, he naturally moves on to Donald Trump. This week during a speech in New Hampshire, Trump went on a diatribe about how much Jeb Bush and Marco Rubio hate each other, even though they publicly say nice things about each other.
Donald Trump: They [Bush and Rubio] hate more than anybody in this room hates their neighbor. But it’s political bullshit. It’s true.
- It is true. And that’s why people love this guy. Because he understands. He knows you hate your neighbor for building that giant tower that blocks your view.
Nerds vs. Robots
- Tonight, we celebrate advances in robotics in our new segment, Cybogasm.
A robot named Atrias was developed at Oregon State University for $4.7 million. The robot can only walk if there is a massive scaffolding above it, operated by a small army of graduate students.
Totally understandable. I mean, after our Christmas party, my interns are
gonna have to do the same just to get me to my limo.
Interview — Morgan Freeman
Renowned screen actor Morgan Freeman switched things up, appearing on the show to promote the new season of “Madame Secretary”. Freeman serves as an executive producer, and plays the Chief Justice of the Supreme Court on this seasons premiere episode, which he also directed.
Asked why he is opting to work on television when he has had such great success, and won an Oscar on the big screen, Freeman explained that, “It pays too … We were thinking about just branching out a little because there’s a lot of good stuff coming up on TV and there’s an awful lot of outlets, so why not?” He also complimented Stephen on scoring his own show, adding that he “deserved it.”
Conversation moved to Freeman’s own hosting duties on Through the Wormhole, where Freeman corrected Stephen about “loving” science, saying that “Science, it fascinates me.” Stephen refuted, “I said you like it,” to which Freeman replied, “No, I’m true you used the word love,” before asking the audience for their opinion and proving Stephen wrong. Before the two excitedly discussed the recent discovery of water on Mars.
The pair ended the interview with Freeman “auditioning” some “iconic” lines, including:
“Draw me like one of your French girls.” (Titanic)
“I am Groot.” (Guardians of the Galaxy)
“Oh no! It’s Christmas and I’m a small boy who’s been left home alone.” (Home Alone)
Interview — Sean Murray
Sean Murray is on deck to discuss his highly anticipated new game, No Man’s Sky. He takes the audience on a tour of the game, which involves discovering infinite planets and galaxies, and allows the user to name planets and creatures they discover first. Sean names several things after Stephen, including some of the planet life (i.e., a “Molebert”) as well as a planet “Colbert Prime” and a galaxy “The Colbert System.” The visuals are stunning, and the set worked really well in displaying the games’ features.