John Lithgow (Extended)

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Guest: John Lithgow (Extended)
Episode Date: March 14, 2026

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Episode Overview

This episode features the iconic actor John Lithgow in his tenth appearance on The Late Show. The conversation, brimming with humor, warmth, and insight, traverses Lithgow’s prolific career, his recent and upcoming projects (including a return to Broadway and his role as Dumbledore), reflections on acting, and a moving original poem dedicated to Stephen Colbert as he prepares to depart late night television.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. John Lithgow’s Milestones and Busy Career

• Tenth Late Show Appearance & Turning 80
  • Lithgow was greeted warmly in celebration of his milestone birthday and his 10th appearance.
    • Colbert: “You've just turned 80 in October.” (02:36)
    • Lithgow: “Yes, I only deal in round numbers.” (02:40)
• Big New Roles
  • Currently performing on Broadway in "Giant," his 25th Broadway production.
  • Announced as Dumbledore for the next eight seasons of the upcoming Harry Potter TV series.
    • Lithgow: "It's exhausting, but it's exhilarating. Two fantastic jobs like this at my age. I kind of can't believe it. I'm working harder and better than ever." (03:05)

2. Pursuing Contentment & Career Reflections

• On Contentment
  • Cited contentment as his greatest achievement, emphasizing it's an ongoing aspiration.
    • Lithgow: "You can't sustain it the entire time, but you aspire to achieve it constantly." (03:34)
• Looking Back at Age 61
  • At 61, Lithgow was starring in "Dirty Rotten Scoundrels" on Broadway.
    • Colbert: "Where were you at 61?" (03:40)
    • Lithgow: "2005. I was on Broadway in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in a year long run." (03:56)

3. The Art and Process of Acting

• Defining His Craft
  • Lithgow describes acting as storytelling, essential to daily life.
    • Lithgow: "Everybody needs stories. You can't get through a single day without seeking out some sort of narrative being told to you... I am that part of society that delivers this to the other half." (04:31)
• Acting Tools
  • Attributes successful acting to a combination of voice, physicality, emotional depth, curiosity, and empathy.
    • Lithgow: “An actor uses his body and his voice and the depth of his emotional experience, I think, to sound pretentious for just a moment.” (05:33)
• On Feeling Ready & Taking Chances
  • Frequently felt unprepared but took roles anyway, leading to greater fulfillment.
    • Lithgow: "So many times I've been asked to play things where I've thought, aha, I can't do that. But it was someone else believing in me... and I have one of my great ecstatic experiences." (06:15)

4. Collaborating with Directors and Writers

• Qualities of a Great Director
  • Values directors who foster creativity and act as intermediaries between writer and actor.
    • Lithgow: "Creating a space where an actor feels like he's making a contribution... and being the perfect intermediary between a writer and an actor." (06:39)
• Challenges with Writer-Directors
  • Difficulty arises when directors are rigid in their vision.
    • Lithgow: "I worked with a director once... and I said, I am probably the nicest actor you will ever work with, and if things go on like this, I will murder you." (07:15) [laughing]
    • Emphasizes the need for actors to be co-creators.

5. "Giant" on Broadway and Portraying Roald Dahl

• Role & Themes
  • Lithgow plays Roald Dahl in "Giant", exploring the author's complexities and anti-semitic views.
    • Lithgow: “He had a streak of antisemitism, which is very much what the play is about. It's a piece of history... It's an examination of that day and as you can imagine in this day and age, it's extraordinarily timely.” (08:14)
• London Success & Olivier Award
  • The play was an award-winning hit in London, before transferring to Broadway.
  • Lithgow reminisces about seeing Laurence Olivier perform and the impact on his own career.
    • Lithgow: “I've been stealing from it my entire career, and it was uncanny. Being given the Olivier Award at the Royal Albert Hall... I never met the man, but I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.” (10:02)

6. Broader Stage Experiences

• Broadway Debut & Tony Award
  • Debut in 1973 with a play from the UK, winning a Tony just weeks later.
    • Lithgow: “My Broadway debut was in a new play from London... I won a Tony Award two weeks after the opening night.” (11:06)
• Dancing with the New York City Ballet
  • Most recently portrayed the Elephant (as Dame Edna) in "Carnival of the Animals."
    • Lithgow: “I was dancing as well as an elephant can possibly dance.” (12:26)
    • On Mikhail Baryshnikov’s praise: "You are a wonderful dancer." (12:03)

7. Celebrating the Late Show Relationship

• Sentimentality of 10 Appearances
  • Both Colbert and Lithgow reflect on the milestone.
    • Colbert: "I was on with Dave 10 times. That was the number of times I was on with Letterman." (12:48)
    • Lithgow: "Thank God I made it to 10. Yeah, yeah. Stephen. This is a really, really sentimental moment..." (12:51)

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Notable Moments & Quotes

John Lithgow’s Surprise Poem to Stephen Colbert

[13:24] Lithgow:
"It's called the Mighty Colbert.
The time has arrived for us all to prepare
for the doleful departure of Stephen Colbert.
How will we last in the gaping black hole
that's left in the absence of this merry soul?...
So why is he cancelled? Why trash all that pleasure?
Why yank off the air this beloved national treasure,
Stephen's tale is a lesson for all who come after.
Beware of a boss with thin skin and no laughter.
But don't mourn for Stephen. He's going to be fine.
He'll only get better. Like aging fine wine.
With a talent so rich and discernment so rare,
there's much more to come from the mighty Colbert."

• The poem, written at the request of Colbert's producer, is both a loving roast and a reflection on Colbert's impact—delivered as a genuine, heartfelt tribute and surprise to the host.
  • Lithgow (on writing the poem): “She sent me the email on Friday and I have tech rehearsals all weekend. I thought, I can never squeeze this in, but I did.” (13:24)
  • Lithgow: "Do not tell, do not show this poem to Stephen. I want him to hear it on TV in front of everybody." (13:53)

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Important Segment Timestamps

• 00:00–01:58 – [Skipped: Ads]
• 01:58 – Introduction: John Lithgow welcomed.
• 02:30 – Discussion of Lithgow’s 80th birthday & current roles.
• 03:21 – Thoughts on contentment and career milestones.
• 04:16 – Colbert asks Lithgow what acting truly is.
• 05:49 – Lithgow on roles he felt unprepared for.
• 06:33 – Discussion on what makes a good director.
• 07:53 – Portraying Roald Dahl in "Giant" and the play’s themes.
• 08:51 – History and impact of the play "Giant."
• 10:02 – Lithgow on seeing Laurence Olivier perform.
• 11:06 – Lithgow on his Broadway debut and awards.
• 11:32 – On dancing with the New York City Ballet.
• 12:41 – Celebrating 10 appearances and sentimental reflections.
• 13:24 – Lithgow’s surprise poem for Colbert (must-listen moment).
• 16:51 – Promotion for "Giant".

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Episode Tone & Style

The episode is filled with warmth and easy banter, in the classic Colbert-Lithgow style—witty, self-deprecating, and wise. Colbert is both reverent and playful, Lithgow gracious, cerebral, and generous with insights, and both speak with great affection for their shared comedic and artistic community. The culminating poem is heartfelt and humorous, matching Colbert’s unique blend of sincerity and wit.

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Final Thoughts

This episode is a compelling listen for fans of performance, Broadway, John Lithgow’s work, or Stephen Colbert’s legacy. It showcases the enduring impact of creative risk, collaboration, and mutual respect, while providing poignant and witty reflections on the passage of time and the end of an era in late night television.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. My first guest tonight is the legendary actor you know from Conclave, the Crown, Terms of endearment, and so much more. Please welcome back to the Late Show. John Lithgow. So lovely to see you again.

[John Lithgow]

Wonderful to be back.

[Stephen Colbert]

You look absolutely in the pink.

[John Lithgow]

Well, I am, I am. I've just been told that this is my 10th appearance on the show. Oh, wow.

[Stephen Colbert]

Just in time. Fantastic. Well, You've just turned 80 in October.

[John Lithgow]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Good for you. Busier than ever.

[John Lithgow]

Yes, I only deal in round numbers.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, exactly. You're back on Broadway for your 25th time in the show Giant, which I want to get to in just a moment. But you're also, you're also. Everybody knows now you're playing Dumbledore for the next eight seasons on the Harry Potter series. Do you enjoy being as busy as possible?

[John Lithgow]

Well, it's exhausting, but it's exhilarating. Two fantastic jobs like this at my age. I kind of can't believe it. I'm working harder and better than ever

[Commercial Narrator]

now.

[Stephen Colbert]

Vanity Fair. In an interview with Vanity Fair, they asked you like, what's your greatest achievement? And you said, contentment. Do you have any advice? Well, do you have advice on how to achieve that? Sounds fantastic.

[John Lithgow]

Well, because you can't sustain it the entire time, but you aspire to achieve it constantly.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm 61 and I'm curious. I'm about to start a new chapter of my career. Where were you at in 61? Let me model myself on John Lithgow.

[John Lithgow]

Oh, God, I can't do the math.

[Stephen Colbert]

20 years ago. Just say 20 years ago.

[John Lithgow]

But I was 16.

[Stephen Colbert]

2005.

[John Lithgow]

2005. I was on Broadway in Dirty Rotten Scoundrels in a year long run. Wow.

[Commercial Narrator]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right, there it is. That's what I'll do.

[John Lithgow]

Yeah. Sounds so good. You're available for next year?

[Commercial Narrator]

I am.

[John Lithgow]

Go to Broadway.

[Stephen Colbert]

You're one of our greatest actors. And I'm just curious, how do you define. I've talked to so many actors over the years, but I've never asked. What is it you do? What is it you do for a living? Actor, defend your choices for what you do for a living.

[John Lithgow]

Well, at the very most basic level, I tell stories. I can't explain why it is, but everybody needs stories. You can't get through a single day without seeking out some sort of narrative being told to you. Whether it's a. An episode of a TV show or a Broadway show or an opera or a ballet, or sitting and listen to a symphony being played. We just crave it and we. I don't think people give it a thought. They just do it because it's a part of their lives. And I am that part of society that delivers this to the other half.

[Stephen Colbert]

And are you, as an actor, What's your greatest tool to do that? Is it your voice? Is it your physicality? Is it your curiosity? Is it your empathy? Is it your interest in human beings? What is it?

[John Lithgow]

I think all of the same. Okay, it's great that you.

[Stephen Colbert]

Weak answer, John.

[John Lithgow]

As you rattled it off, I sort of. It was like checking off the boxes. Yes. An actor uses his body and his voice and his. The depth of his emotional experience, I think, to sound pretentious for just a Moment.

[Commercial Narrator]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

When you were younger, did you ever play a part that you laid a look and went, oh, I wasn't ready for that part. I didn't have the depth of emotional experience to actually understand what I was doing?

[John Lithgow]

No.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, I was. I was.

[John Lithgow]

That's the other.

[Stephen Colbert]

You came out of your mother Deep.

[Commercial Narrator]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Born deep. The John Lithgow story.

[John Lithgow]

I think it's been just the opposite. So many times I've been asked to play things where I've thought, aha, I can't do that. But it was someone else believing in me and thinking that I could. Yeah. I say, yes, I do it. And I have one of my great ecstatic experiences.

[Stephen Colbert]

What do you want in a director? What's his job? In your opinion, regarding John Lithgow, what's his job?

[John Lithgow]

Well, I think it's just creating a space where an actor feels like he's making a contribution, where everybody feels like a creative person and guidance and being the perfect intermediary between a writer and an actor. I think that's a pretty good definition of a great director.

[Stephen Colbert]

When you're working with a writer director, does he ever say, I spoke to the writer, and I think he agrees with me about how you should play this.

[John Lithgow]

Have trouble with writer directors because they hear it one way in their head, and it's just not right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Right.

[John Lithgow]

I worked with a director once on a film, and the third day I took him aside and I said, I am probably the nicest actor you will ever work with, and if things go on like this, I will murder you. Because he couldn't let go of his own. Of the way he. He heard it. He was telling me exactly where to take a longer pause, which syllable to emphasize. An actor has got to feel like he's more than half of the creative process.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, you're starring now in the play Giant on Broadway playing Roald Dahl, the great author. Looking at this play, Bill, it doesn't seem like it's the sunniest depiction of Roald Dahl. We have a shot here, if you don't mind looking at that again. There you go. He's a little grumpy. What is it about?

[John Lithgow]

Well, lots of people know Roald Dahl's writing. You know, he has his dark side as a writer. Well, he had his dark side as a human being. A man of great charm, great wit and intelligence, but a streak of witting and unwitting cruelty that he. Curiously, not so curiously. He. He had a streak of antisemitism, which is very much what the play is about. It's a piece of history. It's a day in Dahl's life in

[Stephen Colbert]

the early

[John Lithgow]

1980s, when, in the middle of the conflict between Israel and Lebanon, when Dahl himself, he had a book coming out, one of his major books, the Witches, and he chose that moment to go very public in a book review he wrote with his anti Semitism and his strong anti Israeli feelings in the way they were conducting this assault on Lebanon. It's an examination of that day and as you can imagine in this day and age, it's extraordinarily timely.

[Stephen Colbert]

You've done this play in London?

[John Lithgow]

We did it in two different runs in London at the small Royal Court Writers Theater, where it was such a success, award winning success, that it went to the West End, had a run there, and now we're doing it on Broadway.

[Stephen Colbert]

And you won the Olivier Award for your performance on that. I'm just curious, did you ever meet Olivier?

[John Lithgow]

I never met him.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you ever see him perform live?

[John Lithgow]

Yes, I did when I was a drama student in London when I was about 22 years old. It was when he was running the National Theater at the Old Vic, and I must have. I saw him in two performances, won a very small role and won a big Titanic role, one of his great roles, the captain in Strindberg's Dance of Death. And I was completely stunned by this performance. I feel like I saw it five days ago. It stays with me so vividly. I've been stealing from it my entire career, and it was uncanny. Being given the Olivier Award at the Royal Festival, Royal Albert hall in London, and invoking Laurence Olivier. I believe I said I never met the man, but I think this is the beginning of a beautiful friendship.

[Stephen Colbert]

You brought plays over from the UK before? Yes, you brought plays over from the UK before.

[John Lithgow]

My Broadway debut was in a new play from London which had been debuted at the Royal Court Theater, where we debuted Giant. That was in 1973, my very first Broadway show. And I won a Tony Award two weeks after the opening night. Wow, that's.

[Stephen Colbert]

So here I got the changing room.

[John Lithgow]

Yeah, the changing room.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's not just Broadway stages that you've graced. You have also danced recently with the New York City Ballet. Yes, and not for the first time. Here you are. What part are you playing there, sir?

[John Lithgow]

I'm playing the elephant. The elephant as portrayed by dame Edna. It's St. San's Carnival of the Animals.

[Stephen Colbert]

I love it. Yeah, yeah, Quite lovely. Are you a good dancer?

[John Lithgow]

You know what? I met Mikhail Baryshnikov for the first time recently and the first. No, years ago, he had seen Carnival of the Animals without my knowing it. And the first words out of his mouth were, you are a wonderful dancer. Wow.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wow.

[John Lithgow]

Now, I must add that I was dancing to comic effect and I made them laugh. In other words, you know, I was dancing as well as an elephant can possibly dance.

[Commercial Narrator]

Ballet.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, John, it's so lovely to see you. Thanks for being here. 10 times. You know, I was on with. I was on with Dave 10 times. That was the number of times I was on with Letterman.

[John Lithgow]

Is that right?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. I was so happy to have been on with 10 times.

[John Lithgow]

Thank God I made it to 10. Yeah, yeah. Stephen. This is a really, really sentimental moment, Stephen. Oh, I mean, I share this feeling with everybody in this audience.

[Stephen Colbert]

I just have loved talking to you and getting to know you over the years. Yeah. And I've loved hearing your poetry. You've shared poetry with us. And my producer tells me, and I've not heard this. My producer tells me that you have brought a special poem for us.

[John Lithgow]

Yes, and I have to give a shout out to Carly Hillman, your producer, who had the wonderful idea of me writing a poem for you, Stephen, just for this occasion. She sent me the email on Friday and I have tech rehearsals all weekend. I thought, I can never squeeze this in, but I did.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, thank you. I did not know. I want you to know I had no idea that she was doing.

[John Lithgow]

Yes. And I told her, do not tell, do not show this poem to Stephen. I want him to hear it on TV in front of everybody to see. It's called the Mighty Colbert. The time has arrived for us all to prepare for the doleful departure of Stephen Colbert. How will we last in the gaping black hole that's left in the absence of this merry soul? For a decade of late night and nine years before of satirical japes on the Colbert Report, we've been lavished with laughter for 20 straight years from the genius between Steven's two mismatched ears. Why does his exit stir up such despair? What mysterious magic imbues late night's air? Steven's wit is the source of his lunatic art. His intelligence, wisdom, compassion and heart. These are the virtues that bring out the best in even his gravest, most humorless guest. His monologues, though, with their slap happy quirks, have clearly been Stevens sublime masterworks. Each one is a targeted rotten tomato bookended by music from Batiste and Cato. So why is he cancelled? Why trash all that pleasure? Why yank off the air this beloved national treasure, Stephen's tale is a lesson for all who come after. Beware of a boss with thin skin and no laughter. But don't mourn for Stephen. He's going to be fine. He'll only get better. Like aging fine wine. With a talent so rich and discernment so rare, there's much more to come from the mighty Colbert. Thank you, John.

[Stephen Colbert]

Previews for Giant on Broadway start Wednesday. John Lipko, 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.

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[Commercial Narrator]

Are you really buying a car online on autotrader right now? Really?

[Stephen Colbert]

At a playground?

[Commercial Narrator]

Yeah, really? Look at these listings from dealers. Wow, your search can really get that specific. Really?

[Stephen Colbert]

And you just put in your info

[Commercial Narrator]

and boom, car's in your budget. Mom needs a second. Honey, you can really have it delivered. Really? Or I can pick it up at the dealership. One sec, sweetie. Mommy's buying a car. Mommy, look. I think your kid is walking up the slide.

[Stephen Colbert]

Kyle.

[Commercial Narrator]

Again? Really? Autotrader buy her car online? Really?