Bradley Whitford

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert – Episode Featuring Bradley Whitford

Episode Details

• Title: Bradley Whitford
• Release Date: May 26, 2025
• Host: CBS’s Stephen Colbert
• Guest: Bradley Whitford, acclaimed actor known for his roles in The West Wing, Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip, and The Handmaid's Tale

---

Introduction and Guest Overview

Stephen Colbert opens the episode by welcoming Bradley Whitford, highlighting his Emmy-winning performances in iconic television series. Colbert references Whitford's transition from political dramas to the dystopian narrative of The Handmaid's Tale, setting the stage for an engaging conversation about versatility in acting.

Notable Quote:

"Welcome back, friends. Oh, Mr. And Mrs. America. You know my next Emmy-winning guest from the West Wing Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And get out. He is currently in the final season of the Handmaid's Tale."
[00:39]

---

Discussion on The Handmaid's Tale

The duo delves into Whitford's role in The Handmaid's Tale, exploring the themes of the show and its relevance in contemporary society. They discuss the portrayal of a theocratic dictatorship and its impact on women's rights, drawing parallels to current global political climates.

Notable Quotes:

Whitford: "It's based on the Margaret Atwood novel centers on a theocratic dictatorship that has overthrown the US Government. For a society where women are stripped of their rights and forced to have children, good thing it's complete fiction."
[03:19]

Colbert: "Weaponizing a perversion of Christianity in order to accumulate power."
[03:36]

---

Collaborative Projects and Personal Relationships

Stephen Colbert and Bradley Whitford discuss their professional collaborations and personal relationships within the entertainment industry. Whitford mentions working alongside talented individuals like Kathy Bates and Sam Shepard, providing insights into the dynamics of working with esteemed actors and directors.

The conversation shifts to Colbert's collaboration with his wife, Amy Landecker, highlighting their joint creative endeavors and the balance between personal and professional lives.

Notable Quotes:

Colbert: "I have terrible taste in women. Would you like to go out with me?"
[07:39]

Whitford: "We feel very lucky."
[08:39]

---

Anecdotes from the Stage and Early Career

Whitford shares captivating stories from his early acting days, particularly his experiences performing in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class. He recounts the challenges of performing emotionally intense scenes, including a memorable moment where he had to appear naked on stage, showcasing his dedication and resilience as an actor.

Notable Quotes:

Whitford: "He comes out stark naked. I remember standing backstage about to do it for the first time."
[09:08]

Colbert: "I'm percolating."
[10:36]

---

Humorous Interlude and Behind-the-Scenes Insights

Throughout the episode, Colbert and Whitford infuse humor into their dialogue, discussing misconceptions and humorous accusations related to their performances. They provide behind-the-scenes glimpses into the making of their projects, adding a lighthearted dimension to the conversation.

Notable Quotes:

Whitford: "We have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more Bradley Whitford, everybody."
[06:11]

Colbert: "Have you ever done the show nude? Have you ever."
[11:26]

---

Reflections on Show Business and Personal Growth

The conversation culminates with reflections on the emotional toll of show business, especially concerning young actors. Whitford and Colbert discuss the importance of maintaining emotional health in the industry and how personal experiences shape their approach to acting and storytelling.

Notable Quotes:

Colbert: "I always worry about children in show business because I don't think show business is healthy for us emotionally."
[05:14]

Whitford: "The Handmaid's Tale is currently streaming on Hulu."
[12:08]

---

Closing Remarks

Stephen Colbert wraps up the episode by thanking Bradley Whitford for his candid and insightful participation. He encourages listeners to follow more content on The Late Show YouTube channel and highlights upcoming attractions, seamlessly transitioning out of the interview segment.

Notable Quote:

Colbert: "Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert."
[12:09]

---

Conclusion

This episode of The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert offers an in-depth and engaging conversation with Bradley Whitford, blending professional insights with personal anecdotes. Listeners gain a deeper understanding of Whitford's diverse acting career, his collaborative spirit, and his perspectives on the evolving landscape of television and film.

---

Additional Information

• Discount Offer: Late Show Pod Show listeners can use discount code "TLS20” for 20% off all The Late Show with Stephen Colbert products on ParamountShop.com.
• Watch Live: Catch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert weeknights at 11:35/10:35c on CBS or stream it on Paramount+.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

It'S the Late Show Poncho with Stephen Colbert.

[Bradley Whitford]

Welcome back, friends. Oh, Mr. And Mrs. America. You know my next Emmy winning guest from the West Wing Studio 60 on the Sunset Strip. And get out. He is currently in the final season of the Handmaid's Tale.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you pack her paints and crayons? Yes, I have. You have paper? Yes, I have paper. She likes to hear this before bed. Listen, this kid more than anything wants to learn. We need to teach her. We're her parents.

[Bradley Whitford]

What chapter are you on?

[Stephen Colbert]

9.

[Bradley Whitford]

Please welcome back to the Late Show, Bradley Whitford.

[IXL Advertiser]

Hello.

[Bradley Whitford]

Hey. Nice to see you again.

[Stephen Colbert]

Good to see you. I'll try and be funny in a second, but it's such. By the way, that was ever Carradine who plays my wife on the show. It's such an interesting time for this, isn't it? Yes, isn't it for this show to come out?

[Bradley Whitford]

Yeah, it sure is.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's.

[Bradley Whitford]

It's based on the Margaret Atwood novel Centers on a theocratic dictatorship that has overthrown the US Government. For a society where women are stripped of their rights and forced to have children, good thing it's complete fiction.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes. Yeah. Thank you.

[Bradley Whitford]

Where do you come up with these ideas, Bradley?

[Stephen Colbert]

Thank God it's not a documentary. Yeah. Where they're weaponizing a perversion of Christianity in order to accumulate power.

[Bradley Whitford]

It is eerily prescient because I understand in this season, the Canadians turn on the U.S. do you know what an.

[Stephen Colbert]

Ass you have to be to piss off the Canadians? Jesus.

[Bradley Whitford]

Anne Murray.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, my God. Yeah, it's very interesting. It's always been. I love the Canadians. I am deeply offended by what our current leader is. Are you signaling me what our current leader is doing? You know, hanging around, making love to dictators and, you know, treating our democratic allies like making love.

[Bradley Whitford]

Cuddling.

[Stephen Colbert]

Cuddling.

[Bradley Whitford]

Cuddling. Why does everything have to be making love?

[Stephen Colbert]

No, no, it's not made. Yeah. It's just a tight hole. Anyway.

[Bradley Whitford]

Anyway, let's just. I'm gonna get to one other thing here. Is that the star of the series, Elizabeth.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes.

[Bradley Whitford]

We've worked together for many years. Cause here you are. She is on the West Wing 25 years ago. In the West Wing, where she's playing Zoe Bartlett.

[Stephen Colbert]

Zoe Bartlett.

[Bradley Whitford]

Adorable. Adorbell. Adorbell, Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

I love Lizzie a lot. Lizzie. I remember the day she came on the set. I always worry about children in show business because I don't think show business is healthy for us emotionally.

[Bradley Whitford]

Adults, yes. Let alone children.

[Stephen Colbert]

Let alone children. But this kid came on the set, she was a ringer, and then she goes off and she becomes the queen of the golden age of television. And then I get this chance to work with her, and she is not only the star of this show, she is the creative center of it. We know that. We are going to. I had this parental feeling about her. We know we're going to love our children, but we don't know that they're going to inspire us. And she very much mirrored our relationship in the show. She. It's basically Sophie's Choice, the series, and she's directing it.

[Bradley Whitford]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

You know that feeling you got watching Sophie's Choice?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

Every week. Every week, exactly.

[Stephen Colbert]

Every week.

[Bradley Whitford]

Sell it, Bradley.

[Stephen Colbert]

The Handmaid.

[DSW Advertiser]

Sell it.

[Stephen Colbert]

We're hard to watch.

[Bradley Whitford]

We have to take a quick break. We'll be right back with more Bradley Whitford, everybody.

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[Bradley Whitford]

Hey, everybody. We're back with Bradley Whitford. You're also directed by another. Another beautiful and talented woman, your wife.

[Stephen Colbert]

My wife, Amy Landecker.

[Bradley Whitford]

You two have made a film in which you co star. Here we go. That's lovely.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes, yes. I just want to point out here.

[Bradley Whitford]

That we got a shot of this. Look closer.

[Stephen Colbert]

My zipper is open.

[Bradley Whitford]

So that sounds like a really good movie.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, it's the title of my autobiography. Yeah. So it's clearly rap time. No, Amy wrote, directed, stars in this movie. We had so much called For Worse. For Worse. It's called. It's based on our marriage.

[Bradley Whitford]

Do you enjoy. Do you enjoy being directed by your wife?

[Stephen Colbert]

I loved it.

[Bradley Whitford]

Have you worked together before?

[Stephen Colbert]

We. No, we had never acted together. I met her. She was on Transparent. I was in another story on Transparent. I met her. I was wearing a dress. I was playing a homophobic cross dresser. And so we didn't connect immediately. But about a year later, I said to her, I said, I have terrible taste in women. Would you like to go out with me? And she said she had terrible taste in men. So we feel very lucky.

[Bradley Whitford]

But it's all been smooth. It's all been smooth.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

Don't take the work home or anything like that.

[Stephen Colbert]

No. Well, this work was fun to take home. Yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

What with the fly downer now?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

People know you from TV and your film work, but obviously, like a lot of great actors, you started trotting the boards. Trotting the board on stage. One of your first jobs was in Sam Shepard's Curse of the Starving Class.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes.

[Bradley Whitford]

It was on Broadway.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, off Broadway.

[Bradley Whitford]

Off Broadway.

[Stephen Colbert]

Terrifying, terrifying, terrifying.

[Bradley Whitford]

At La Mama. Where was this?

[Stephen Colbert]

No, no, no. It was at the Promenade. It had been off off Broadway. It was with Kathy Bates. Sam Shepard was around, like he would come and visit. But this play, Curse of the Starving Class, the kid has to do a couple of crazy things. He has to urinate on stage. I used a colostomy bank. Yeah. You don't need to feel bad. And he has to. At one point, he has an emotional breakdown and it's a very powerful play. That I love. But he comes out stark naked. I remember. I remember standing backstage about to do it for the first time. You're walking straight at the audience. I had to pick up a lamb N. A live lamb that I called Meryl. Sheep. I called her. And then when you're naked, if you're a man, what you want to do if you're facing an audience is squat, right? So I had to squat. But it gets worse. So in this play, the kid freaks out. It's a great play. Has to eat a lot of raw food. One night, I eat some bad eggs or something, I get salmonella poisoning. So now I'm naked. I gotta be naked on stage, squat, pick up a lamb, and everything is like that.

[Bradley Whitford]

And at this point, you're percolating. Shall we say?

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm percolating. And I had not yet learned that if there is anything that really does not have to go on, it's the show. And I wanted to do the show every night. Sure, sure, sure. And it never happened. But I was accused of clenching my ass in order to make it look better. But I was not. It was very close to the worst possible thing happening. Very close. And if it had happened, I swear to God, it would be the only thing you knew about me.

[Bradley Whitford]

Right. Or you don't know, Man, New York critics, they could be, like, bold, brave, brave choices.

[Stephen Colbert]

Brilliant choice.

[Bradley Whitford]

By newcomer Bradley Whitford.

[Stephen Colbert]

Brilliant. Brilliant choice. Have you ever done the show nude? Have you ever.

[Bradley Whitford]

This show?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

With an audience.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Bradley Whitford]

Cause during COVID I was just wearing a half shirt the entire time. How old were you when you were squatting?

[Stephen Colbert]

When I was. When I was squatting and almost on myself, I was. I was 25.

[Bradley Whitford]

Oh, yeah. So the outside edge of where I'd want to be naked.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's when you kind of age out.

[Bradley Whitford]

Yeah. Well, Bradley, it's been wonderful to talk about your body in all of its forms.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm just glad I could share.

[Bradley Whitford]

I'm so glad, too. The Handmaid's Tale is currently streaming on Hulu. Bradley Whitford, everybody. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives. Now playing. Clock is running. You will never see a movie like this again. Mission Impossible is a symphony of action, scale, and spectacle. Tom Cruise has outdone himself. Mission Impossible, the Final Reckoning. Now playing rated PG 13. Experience the champions League final like never before with me, David Beckham and some of my closest friends.

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[Bradley Whitford]

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[Stephen Colbert]

You did promise us a lot of a listers.

[Bradley Whitford]

Who could it be?

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