EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 95 (Thursday, February 18, 2016)
GUESTS: Tea Leoni | Amanda Peet | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
STAFF CAMEO(s): Brendan Hurley
SEGMENTS: Monologue - Stephen Weighs in On Trump Vs. Pope | And Now, Some Totally Organic Product Placement | The Late Show Wheel of News | Tea Leoni | Amanda Peet | Triumph the Insult Comic Dog
SUIT REPORT: Dark Grey Suit | White Shirt | Navy Silk Tie

I was soooo looking forward to seeing Stephen talk to a raggedy puppet dog (aka Triumph.)

This coming from a huge Robert Smigel fan. Smigel, as y’all know, is Triumph’s puppet master. Although he has flitted around from project to project over the years, he is best known as an SNL behind-the-scenes mainstay (someone once called him the “Dean of SNL”) and also having been Conan’s first head writer. One of the funniest pieces I have ever seen in my life has to be, hands down, when Robert took Triumph down to the Star Wars fans waiting in line for Star Wars: Attack of the Clones. I also enjoyed when he gave his own unique weather forecast in Hawaii. There are countless other examples of this foul-mouthed, faux-insulting brand of comedy.

I am such a fan I even bought his SNL DVD Special, Saturday TV Funhouse. In it, Smigel gives his personal commentary, and in one section, he has Stephen and Steve Carrell commentating on their turn as his creations Ace and Gary in The Ambiguously Gay Duo, something we Colbert fans love. In the commentary, Robert tells Stephen that he first spotted Stephen at Second City while scouting out female talent for SNL. “It must have been my womanly hips,” Stephen says, or something like that, but Robert said he had a “comedy crush” on Stephen from then on. He asked Stephen to audition for The Dana Carvey Show in 1995, at a time when Stephen had a newborn baby but was in-between jobs. Stephen then says that his voiceover work for Ace (which first debuted on the Carvey show, then migrated to TV Funhouse) was the first bit of work that brought him to New York from Chicago, actually. The rest is history.

So, in many ways, Smigel was the stepping stone that has brought us all here today on the Hub cheering on Stephen’s work. And of course, we are also here due to Colbert being awesome and talented, which Robert is first to admit.

More on this episode to come.

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Stephen introduces an absolutely brilliant maneuver for his network-mandated product integration: distracting the viewer with a completely off-the-wall reference.

I want to be up front with you right from the beginning and admit that occasionally we get paid to feature a sponsor’s product on our show. But I have the same high standards for product placement as I do for appearing nude on camera: it has to be integral to the plot, or! I have no choice. Tonight, one of those things is true. But I think we’ve managed to make it so organic you may not even notice.

 

Now on a completely unrelated note, I’m feeling a little thirsty. You know what would really hit the spot? My favorite beverage, the 2016 Mini Clubman! [..] It’s surprisingly spacious interior can fit Civil War reenactors from opposing sides. That’s 2 Confederate soldiers in the front, because they started it, and 3 Union soldiers in the back. They’re 5 brothers from the same family, which is extra tragic, but there’s a happy ending, because there’s so much room in the Clubman they don’t need to fight! As Lincoln never said, “ A Mini Clubman divided against itself cannot stand,” but they don’t have to stand with all that space to sit. War is hell, but this car is heaven. And that was tonight’s commercial integration.

 

Then, we move onto a new, cool segment “Wheel of News,” which is going to be a wonderful recurring segment once Stephen gives his crew enough time to get the dome to actually function as a spinning wheel. In the absence of time, Stephen unearths his longtime prop master, Brendan Hurley, from under the desk to become a human spinning wheel of sorts to make the spinning wheel bit work. It’s a lovely piece that highlights the pitfalls of producing a strip show and Stephen’s improv chops.

A great moment is when Stephen mentioned Governor Scott Walker’s decision to allow concealed-carry of switchblades in Wisconsin, after a 60-year ban:

I applaud the Governor. Switchblades are the important issue of 2016. ‘Cause let’s say you’re just cruising down to the malt shop with your best gal, only to run in to some “Toughs” who want to race you for the pinks to your T-bird. You’ve got the constitutional right to take out your blade and slice that letter right off his varsity jacket. Remember, rumbles can happen at any time! Beware, sock hops, five-and-dimes, the old aqueduct, the quarry, Jimmy’s Garage where they let you smoke after school…without your trusty blade you could end up deads-ville, Daddio.