Colbert's First Week Guests: Stephen King, Movie Stars, and a Mystery Band
The first week of Stephen Colbert’s Late Show has filled out its guest list. We knew George Clooney and Jeb Bush would be the opening-night guests. (Hopefully, that duo will play beer pong while doing Stupid Human Tricks.) Now it’s been announced that the Sept. 9 show will feature Scarlett Johansson; Elon Musk, chief executive of Tesla Motors and SpaceX; and Kendrick Lamar (who, close observers will note, had previously been slotted into opening night). The guests on Sept. 10 will be Uber chief Travis Kalanick and the country growler Toby Keith. On Sept. 11, Colbert plays host to Amy Schumer, Stephen King, and a music act called Troubled Waters.
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It’s that last show that’s most intriguing. Although Stephen King almost always has a book on the bestseller list (currently it’s the excellent mystery novel Finders Keepers), he doesn’t have any product pressing to be promoted, which leads me to think he and Colbert may venture into at least a few serious moments acknowledging that day’s anniversary of the Sept. 11 terrorist attacks, about which King has written in, among other places, his short story The Things They Left Behind.
And what’s up with Troubled Waters? Ever heard of ’em? Me neither. The New York Times referred to them as “a Paul Simon tribute band,” but try finding anything about them online. Will this prove a Colbert prank (the host imitating a pop star such as Paul Simon verges dangerously on Jimmy Fallon territory, but Colbert never shies away from a challenge), or did the host and his staff dig up a real Simon cover band playing deep in the recesses of America and book it for fun?
Anticipation builds!
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert premieres Sept. 8 at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.
