After signing off from The Late Show, Stephen Colbert rushed to say hello to “native Michiganders” on the local public access show where he interviewed Eminem 11 years ago.
First meeting
Back in July 2015, the comedian was preparing to take over the Late Night Show after David Letterman’s retirement. It was Stephen’s baptism by fire – he had to host a talk show Only in Monroe live on air but away from primetime and sold out ad breaks. Before that, Colbert found success presenting parodies of political pundits, but bringing that persona into a traditional talk show format did not seem like a sensible choice.
At that time, Colbert was still finding his voice, and the style he chose for that episode confused some viewers. Deliberately awkward, very tongue-in-cheek, with a deadpan delivery, the late-night host on the brink of becoming a star interviewed the regular hosts of the show he parachuted into and introduced Eminem as an up-and-coming rapper making a name for himself. He even tried to get Em to sing Bob Seger’s songs. In the absence of a laughter track, the audience was unsure whether it was a joke, and to this day, you can find angry people accusing Colbert of disrespecting Eminem. Meanwhile, Marshall could barely hold it together, biting the inside of his cheek to stop himself from laughing.
Obviously, there were no hard feelings between these two, but they never repeated the bit. While promoting The Death Of Slim Shady (Coup De Grâce), Colbert tried to invite Eminem to his show, but he did not succeed.
Apparently, Marshall was waiting for an invitation to Only in Monroe.
Welcome back to Michigan
CBS shut down The Late Night Show, citing financial difficulties. At the same time, public opinion linked this decision to the fact that Colbert’s relentless political commentary bothers Trump personally. Meanwhile, the farewell episode broke a broadcasting record. It featured a long string of celebrities, from Paul McCartney to Bruce Springsteen to Robert De Niro and many more. That evening, Colbert, who has 11 Emmy Awards and two Grammys, mentioned the 2015 Only in Monroe episode he hosted, calling it “technically our first show for an audience of 12 people”. Moving from the past to the future, he predicted, “Show business being what it is these days, that’s probably where you’ll see me next”. And that’s exactly what we did 24 hours later.
Colbert hosted another episode of Only in Monroe, interviewing the same hosts as 11 years earlier. This time, he had more familiar faces with him. Jack White stepped in as the music director, while actor Jeff Daniels assisted Colbert in destroying the set. After tossing the wreckage into a dumpster, Colbert declared that he needed a clearance from a fire marshal. This is when Em appeared via video link, saying, “Stephen, Marshall is here. You are absolutely clear to burn that motherfucker down, bro”.
The expression “A full circle moment” has become an annoying cliche. However, there is no better way to describe what Colbert did here to close the chapter, circling back to where the Late Night Show story started for him. And of course, this is not the end of the road. Now he, a self-professed Tolkien fan, is moving on to co-write a new film in the Lord of the Rings franchise together with his son. He will be telling the story of Tom Bombadil, which Peter Jackson did not include in his trilogy. And who knows what more is to come in this story? Maybe next time Eminem will be the one interviewing Stephen Colbert, an up-and-coming writer carving a niche for himself in show business.