February 24, 2016 - Adrien Brody, Danai Gurira, Brian Greene

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Episode GuideEPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 99 (Wednesday, February 24, 2016)
GUESTS: Adrien Brody | Danai Gurira | Brian Greene
STAFF CAMEO(s): Brian Stack | Michael Brumm
SEGMENTS: Monologue | The Road to the White House: It’s Time to Grow Up & Settle with Marco Rubio | Adrien Brody | Dani Gurira | Stephen’s Wish List for Hillary Clinton | Brian Greene
SUIT REPORT: Dark Grey Suit | White Shirt | Black Patterned Tie

Stephen basically fixes the Clinton campaign in this episode. “You’re welcome!”

Stephen kicks off the show by saying that he finds watching the NASA live stream relaxing during stressful times like the ones we are experiencing in the world today. He also references a recent and slightly bizarre incident of International Space Station and friend-of-the-show Scott Kelly “running” around the space station in a gorilla suit. Space madness, maybe? Brian Stack continues the fun by running around the studio, being chased a by a gorilla. Brian seems up for anything, particularly the more silly elements of the show, which is great.

You can check out Scott’s daily “briefing” aboard the vessel where he discusses why he decided to go “ape” in space here. (It was for the kids, apparently.) I just discovered that while writing this!

Stephen also introduces a new guest musician in the band, Patrick, who plays a funky looking instrument (“wind controller”) called an EWI 4,000 - S. He tells Patrick when he plays the instrument it looks like he is vaping. Ha! It’s always cool to see how Jon and the Stay Human boys are mixing it up and innovating the material with new instruments and guest musicians.

The Road to the White House: It’s Time to Grow Up & Settle with Marco Rubio

Stephen reviews the less-than-suprising results of Donald Trump trouncing his competitors in the Nevada primary. Trump’s trumping is now making his nomination to the presidency all the more inevitable, which is causing skittishness in the more establishment sector of the GOP.

“And here’s the real magic, Trump won more than Ted Cruz and Marco Rubio combined. So those two could not have beaten him even with the classical dirty trick known as ‘Large Trench Coat.’’”

What is Rubio’s and Cruz’s combined loss is Trump’s gain, and he takes time to gloat about it, in true Trump fashion:

Donald Trump: I love the poorly educated!

  • I bet you do! The point is Donald Trump is probably the likely Republican nominee with a real shot at being the next president. And I’m not sure if I am horrified or entertained. It’s like watching one of those nature documentaries, where the python unhinges its jaw, and slowly swallows the capybara, and then becomes President of the United States.

    • “Yes, like many other Las Vegas visitors, the GOP woke up this morning with a raging hangover, wondering, ‘what the hell happened last night?’”

  • This billionaire having his way with the election is shocking and unthinkable to the billionaires who have their way with our elections. So they’ve formed an anti-Trump Super PAC, which has already spent more than $3.5 million on negative ads, much of the money coming from the family that owns the Chicago Cubs, and we all know the Cubs are synonymous with winning.
  • [Marco Rubio’s] just saying the election is not getting any younger, and America needs to settle. He might not be the President of your Dreams, but you’ll learn to love him. It’s all summed up in his new campaign slogan “Marco Rubio: Oh, You’re Such a Catch?”

    •  

    Stephen’s Wish List for Hillary Clinton

    Excitement abounds when Stephen’s brilliant political analysis on the Late Showis highlighted in a recent CNN Town Hall hosted by Chris Cuomo. During the Town Hall, Hillary Clinton FINALLY gives a direct answer to a question “would she lie” or not. Colbert is clearly thrilled by the mention at the Town Hall, and the fact that Hillary would “take” his advice.

  • And I am calling it, Hillary Clinton will win in South Carolina because of my advice, with a slight assist from her 28-point lead.

    •  

    Hillary Clinton: Good, good I want to make [Colbert] happy.

  • Oh do you, Madame Secretary? Well, I just so happen to have a list of things you could do to bring me great joy. Let’s see if I can get through them. First, if you are elected president I want to be an Ambassador, I mean one of the good countries. I’m talking about Japan, or France, or Narnia. And that Thanksgiving turkey pardon tradition, it would make me very happy if you would also pardon the Groundhog Day Groundhog. Yes, they’re delicious, but we shouldn’t be eating them. And finally, for the sake of my show, it would make me very happy if Donald Trump just keep running for president forever. You can win, just let him keep talking. Secretary Clinton, I know you will make all these things happen, because you said you want to make me happy, and I recently heard that you never lie.

    •  

    Interviews

    Adrien Brody bounds on the stage for a rollicking interview looking debonair with a scarf he hastily fashioned into a tie. Stephen comments on how he could never pull that look off, thought it works for Brody. They also discuss his side career as a painter, and how his own art and even Stephen’s comedy is an important form of creative expression. “Everything you do is your art, and as you entertain people regularly, it’s all art.” Following loud applause Stephen says, “I also attempt to sell a fair amount of Bud Light and Oldsmobiles.” They go on to discuss Brody’s life as a meme, aka BrodyQuest, and how he physically trains himself in and out of tough guy roles (Predator.)

    If the “Late Show” needs a fashion editor, Danai is on hand.

    Actress Danai Gurira looks magnificent in a gorgeous patterned dress and is on hand to promote her work on the popular Walking Dead, but also the fact that she has not one but two plays running in NYC at present. They discuss how the Walking Dead is not meant to be a show strictly about zombies, but about the human condition in difficult circumstances. She talks about how her experience of growing up partly in the midwest and Zimbabwe gave rise to her work as a playwright, and the trickiness about writing about your own family for the stage.

    They have a cute exchange at the end:

    Stephen: Now when [her play, Eclipsed] is eventually made into a Hollywood movie, what white man would you like to play the lead?
    Danai: You! Yes, I am looking at you.
    Stephen: It’s a deal!

    Finally, friend-of-the-show and astrophysicist Brian Greene appears to discuss a recent discovery on gravitational waves. To be honest to you, I really didn’t follow this, but, perhaps some of you can help me out in understanding it. I’ll be in the back vaping with Patrick.

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    What did you think of the episode? Let us know in the comments!

    • K.V. Lady

      The bit with the gorilla was so silly! I also love the Hillary bit. Proof that Stephen Colbert still has an impact on politics, even though he’s no longer strictly a political satirist.

    • Roseha

      I really liked this episode, I think it may be that they are getting a better idea on how to pace the show: opening, desk bit, two short interviews, another desk bit, amazing science interview! Maybe after the guest-bumping last week they will stick to 3 guests and leave room for whatever comes up. I just loved the Hillary segment. “I want to make Stephen Colbert happy” - he will just never let her forget that one! the wishes he came up with were great also.
      I enjoyed all the guests on this show also, and it was great that Stephen was so enthusiastic about Brian Greene’s mind-blowing segment on gravitational waves and how they could reach into places light can’t go. Loved the Einstein on the ceiling effect!

      • Gina

        My understanding is they put a second desk bit to maintain the viewer’s attention, and get the viewer to stay tuned in as long as possible.

        • DeeCee

          Yes I think a second desk bit will help to keep fans tuned in, especially if they don’t find that day’s guests particularly exciting.

          • Vansen

            I agree. The desk bits are my favourite part of the show, especially since they’re often topical.

    • Awesome guide, Gina! It was so great to see Brian Stack running around as an astronaut. He was always up for doing silly things like that on Conan and he is keeping it going on the Late Show. Hillary Clinton taking Stephen’s advice was hilarious! It’s pretty impressive that a clip of Stephen was shown to a presidential candidate during a CNN Town Hall. I loved the Adrien Brody interview. He is such an incredible actor and all around nice guy. Danai Gurira was lovely!

    • Vansen

      I really enjoyed the interview with Brian Greene, and I’m glad LSSC devoted a respectable amount of time to discussing the ramifications of the gravitational waves breakthrough. It’s great to see Colbert’s genuine enthusiasm and interest in topics like this, because even if we don’t fully understand the details, we can appreciate how impressive the discovery is, and get a sense of how this will affect things going forward.

      I hope the show continues to build up a stable of engaging science communicators who can come on and talk about all the cool and interesting things going on in physics, genetics, zoology, environmental sciences etc. Sylvia Earle is on my wishlist of people I’d like to see on the show.

    • llama

      I thought the gorilla bit wasn’t great, but I’ll take stupid, silly and meaningless fun over more stuff about Trump and the election anyday. I actually think it might’ve been really funny if they had kept having the astronaut/gorilla bit throughout the whole show.
      Also, I like that he introduced the guest in the band, but maybe it’s about time he introduced the regular band members?? Maybe? just a thought.