Jon Stewart flips the script and interviews Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show'

Stephen Proctor

On The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, Jon Stewart flipped the script on the host so that the interviewer became the interviewee. Stewart had interviewed Colbert only one other time, in 2001, with Colbert not even answering questions as himself but as Al Sharpton. Sharpton had been scheduled to appear on The Daily Show but canceled at the last minute. Colbert had to jump in, and though the interview was hilarious, the timing couldn’t have been worse for him.

“Two weeks before it was released worldwide, I had a ticket to a prescreening of The Fellowship of the Ring,” Colbert recalled Tuesday. “And I put my hand on the door to leave The Daily Show and I heard, ‘Stephen Colbert come to the studio. Stephen come to the studio.’”

Fans were delighted to see the friends sharing the screen again, with many on Twitter requesting that this become a regular segment. It’s easy to see why. The two have known each other for so long that their witty banter is seamless. When Stewart asked Colbert which of his children he loves the most, Colbert replied, “Probably Nate.” Stewart laughed and said, “That’s my child.”

The interview wasn’t just Stewart and Colbert joking around, though. They got serious for a bit, talking about religion and what it’s like for Colbert doing The Late Show as opposed to his work in the past. This is the first time in his career that Colbert is not playing a character and whatever he says can be attributed to him.

“You don’t have the protection of the mask,” Colbert said.

Stewart wasn’t the only one who questioned Colbert on Tuesday. With the host still on Thanksgiving vacation, the show aired multiple prerecorded and un-aired segments in which a guest interviewed him. They included Neil deGrasse Tyson, Kerry Washington, Jake Tapper and Charlamagne tha God.

The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 on CBS.

Watch Jon Stewart drop by his once-nemesis Fox News for a very good cause:

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