Stephen Colbert Wouldn’t Want Jon Stewart’s Gig
While Stephen Colbert is getting ready to take over for a comedy legend this Fall, there’s one person he wouldn’t want to have to follow on television. That’s his former boss and mentor, Jon Stewart on the Daily Show. Colbert was part of the Tribeca Film Festival going on in Manhattan. He did a “Tribeca Talk” with filmmaker and “Star Wars” creator George Lucas. Even though the conversation was intended to be about Lucas and his career, it turned towards things happening in late night comedy.
During the interview, covered by Deadline, George Lucas confusingly asked about Stephen Colbert’s move to the Late Show and CBS to take over for the retiring David Letterman. Lucas obviously didn’t know exactly what the gig was that Colbert was taking. He asked Colbert, “Don’t you think the perfect choice to replace that Jon Stewart fella would have been you? And now you’re working at Late Show where nobody sees you. Who stays up past 1 AM? Wouldn’t you say I’m taking over the crown?”
Colbert’s comedic response to George Lucas thinking he was going to be on in the middle of the night was simply, “Ummm…”. He followed that up by talking about the Daily Show’s actual replacement Trevor Noah and why he wouldn’t want that job. He said, “He is a very funny guy. I don’t want to be the guy who takes over for Jon Stewart. I’ve worked with him, and my memories of him is that he’s the keenest, most intelligent, most beautifully deconstructive mind — the clearest thinker I ever worked for. I would never get underneath his shadow. Someone else who doesn’t love him as much might have a better time on that show than I ever would.”
Not that David Letterman will be any easier to replace, but Stephen Colbert takes on that task this Fall on Tuesday, September 8th on CBS.
