January 26, 2016 - Laurence Fishburne, Michael Novacek, Lake Street Dive

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Episode GuideEPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 79 (Tuesday, January 26, 2016)
GUESTS: Laurence Fishburne | Michael Novacek | Lake Street Dive
STAFF CAMEO(S): Sam Kim, Opus Moreschi, Ariel Dumas, Jen Spira, Gabe Gronli
SEGMENTS: Monologue | Stephen Holds a Town Hall Meeting | Laurence Fishburne | Life Hacked, Vol. 2 | Michael Novacek | Lake Street Dive — “Call Off Your Dogs”
SUIT REPORT: Dark Grey Suit | White Shirt | Light Grey Spotted Tie

Hi Hubsters, I’m finally back with an episode guide! I recently moved to New York for an internship and even though I am having a blast, there’s also little time left for proper fandom participation. Then again I am closer to Stephen now. Win some, lose some. And here we go:

The balcony was certainly in a good mood during the monologue and so was Stephen, with or without alcohol. Six days till Iowa and election fever seems to be spreading fast. One particular Bernie Sanders ad, with a very recognizable soundtrack, caught Stephen’s attention. So Bernie got Simon & Garfunkel (“nothing says youth vote like a song from 1965”), but what about the other candidates? Surely the Simonian songbook has the right song for everybody:

“I think everyone would love to see Governor Chris Christie put out an ad with ‘Bridge Over Troubled Water.'”

And Stephen’s recs didn’t stop there. How about Martin O’Malley and ‘Sound of Silence’? Rand Paul and ‘Homeward Bound’? And let’s not forget Donald Trump- plenty of choices there, though ‘Still Crazy After All These Years’ takes the cake in the end.

This episode was off to a great start, but what followed next brought me the most joy in a joy-filled show, and not only because Stephen took off his jacket. No, what made the town hall segment so special and enjoyable for me was the strong TCR vibe that was filling my screen all of a sudden, and since I have my sentimental tendencies I couldn’t resist it. This felt like classic Stephen/”Stephen”, and I mean that in the best possible way.

During their last debate the Democratic candidates as well as the audience seemed awfully nice to each other, and Stephen certainly didn’t want to miss out on getting a chance to make himself seem human as well. So he left his desk behind and took center stage in his own studio to take questions from his own audience, or, well, his own staff pretending to be his own audience. The segment was all kinds of meta and all kinds of over the top and all kinds of hilarious:

  • Would you mind mouthing the words ‘thank you’ as you sit down?
  • I’m a part-time CEO, full-time mom, currently serving in Afghanistan.
  • I’m a professional audience plant from Des Moines.
  • Oh…that is domestic.

Oh, and did I mention that Stephen took off his jacket? And rolled up his sleeves? And pants? Yeah, that happened, too. What a brilliant bit.

The first guest of the night was the always delightful Laurence Fishburne, and he and Stephen covered every topic from his show Blackish to the diversity debate in Hollywood to being middle-aged and cool.

Colbert: I like the show. I don’t think I’m black. Is there a chance that I’m black-ish?
Fishburne: Definitely. Look at your band. Your band makes you black-ish.

Laurence and Stephen returned with some smooth moves from the commercial break, and followed up with, yes, you guessed it, Laurence Fishburne burning fish. I loved every second of this segment simply for the level of ridiculousness I was witnessing, and because Laurence really, really played his role to perfection. Let’s see what celebrity name the show can turn into a fun late night game next.

Before Stephen introduced his second interview guest it was time for a new installment of Life Hacked. Some favorites:

  • Are you being driven crazy by all the noise from a nearby construction site? Wait till they leave for the night, then finish the building yourself.
  • Losing custody of your kids during the divorce? Simply dress up as a woman, then become their nanny and win back the respect of your wife Sally Field.
  • Desperate for some cuddling but allergic to cats? Here’s a helpful tip: Maybe you’re not allergic to raccoons. Just lie in your yard, rub some old pizza on your neck and wait for your new best pal to show up.

Next up was Michael Novacek from the American Museum of Natural History in New York. Geekier interviews are almost always enjoyable, but this one especially was great fun to watch. Michael and Stephen had great chemistry, and the subject matter was incredibly fascinating. Splitters and lumpers? A code of silence among paleontologists? ALAN? Yes, this was refreshing all around.

Novacek: There is probably something bigger out there and, you know, there’s a lot of competition. ‘My dinosaur is bigger than your dinosaur.’
Colbert: Yeah, there’s a lot of that in the locker room.

And finally Lake Street Dive stopped by to deliver a rockin’ performance of “Call Off Your Dogs” from their new album “Side Pony.”

That’s it from me. What did you like about the show? Did you enjoy the town hall segment as much as I did? Are you a splitter or a lumper? Leave us a comment below!

  • Rita

    What a great episode! Loved the Town Hall Meeting! Why do I find Stephen so sexy? Laurence Fishburne was fun and I loved the huge hug Stephen gave Jon - “Contact black” Ha, ha, ha! And I got my favorite kind of guest too: a scientist talking about an interesting subject :)

    • Gina

      There’s a lot of reasons you feel that way about Stephen. If you notice, my avatar is from Stephen’s turn in People Magazine’s sexiest men alive edition, he was the “Sexy Surprise” of 2006. So, scientifically speaking, he has at least been sexy since 2006. He does know what he is doing though, taking time out to slowly take off some of his TV host uniform to the delight of the viewing audience. I will say that.

      • Rita

        Scientifically speaking since 2006?? Oh no, my friend, I’ve seen pictures of him in his twenties and he had already all the biological markers for being sexy as hell! That’s just hard-science :)

        • Gina

          Touche, my friend.

    • K.V. Lady

      I find Stephen sexy, too; especially since he’s taken over the Late Show. Of course I loved him on the Report too, but it always felt a little weird crushing on someone who was channelling Bill O’Reilly, one of the least sexy people in the world! Now that Stephen has dropped the character, I just find him so much hotter!

      • Rita

        Yes, just, YES!

  • Gina

    Nice to see all the writers up there during Stephen’s almost NSFW “audience questions.” (I mean, that pant leg was rolled up to the knee! ;)) Opus was hilarious. His beard is ugh.

    I thought Laurence Fishbourne would be awesome, and he was awesome +. What a great camaraderie. I love the guests who are it-getters. When he said “look at your band!” in response to Stephen’s question about his blackish-ness, that was a great moment.

    Life hacks! I like that segment a lot.

  • http://www.twitter.com/milquetoast7 tamara

    this was a super-lovely episode and i loved every minute of it. the casual-town-hall, the staff cameos, the Jon-hug, the return-from-commercial dancing w/ Fishburne. well done, TLS.

    vaguely related sidenote - does anyone remember what the segment was on TCR where colbert put a microphone down his pants? it was sort of similar to this in that he was half-way stripping down for something.

    • ColbertsLassNC

      I remember the still well - it’s my background image on my Google page, but I can’t seem to recall the exact segment right now. I will research and get back to you on le Twitt. Lol.

      • http://www.twitter.com/milquetoast7 tamara

        haha - thank you! for some reason i think it was also political - or during a song? i’ve searched a bunch of keywords, but CC site is garbage now so it hasn’t found it for me yet.

        • K.V. Lady

          Yeah, it really has become increasingly more frustrating to find anything on CC’s page.

          • http://www.twitter.com/milquetoast7 tamara

            they don’t even organize by show anymore. no, i don’t want to see a tosh.0 segment about pants, thanks anyway.

            • K.V. Lady

              Oh hell no!

  • ColbertsLassNC

    The Town Hall segment was wonderful. Obviously… Those gams!!!!!!!! Loved this, and it reminded me of the time he ever so elegantly hiked up his leg on the desk of the Report, sans dress slacks and only in the blazer. It’s clearly sometimes the little things us fangirls go crazy over. LOL.

    Nice cameos by staffers, and I also loved Fishburne’s segment. CLAM SLAM had me rolling. I played along a little on Twitter last night, trying to get a nice #LSSC thread going (not that it really paid off, however). I still hope to see more interaction in the social media world between the show and fans. They’re getting better, though.

  • Lou

    That town hall segment was a masterpiece!! And I loved the interview with Michael Novacek. A Stephen + scientist combination is always a win!