Mandy Patinkin (Extended)

Summary

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The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Guest: Mandy Patinkin (Extended)
Date: December 20, 2025

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Late Show Pod Show features the ever-charming and candid Mandy Patinkin in an extended conversation with Stephen Colbert. The discussion dances from Hanukkah traditions and culinary mishaps, to the art of advice-giving with family, reflections on career-defining moments, stories of love and marriage, and previews of Mandy’s latest work, all wrapped in the warmth and wit of two storytellers at ease.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Hanukkah Traditions & The Art of the Latke (01:57–03:36)

• Mandy’s Hanukkah plans: Low-key celebration with friends (e.g., Zoran Mamdani) and teaching the art of potato latkes.
• Latke recipe tips: Mandy references his mom’s recipe, humorously warning against replicating his and his wife’s “messed up” version.
• Preparation mastery: Mandy stresses, “The big thing is you gotta get the water out of the potatoes and squeeze.” (03:04)
• Latke toppings: Lively debate on applesauce vs. sour cream—Mandy admits to using both, “at the same time...yeah, same latke.” (03:22)

2. On Advice and the New Podcast, Don’t Listen to Us (03:43–04:49)

• Mandy and his family host an advice podcast, though he cheekily doubts his qualifications.
• On giving advice: “It shows the degradation of the American public.” (04:04)
• On marriage dynamics: Mandy credits his wife Kathryn for correcting his advice, illustrating their healthy partnership.
• Best personal advice: “Talk less and listen more to my wife.” (04:34)
  • This wisdom comes via therapy—“Shut up, Mandy.” (04:44)

3. Professional Wisdom & Anecdotes (05:08–08:53)

• Bob Fosse’s advice: “Just do. Take the work. Energy breeds energy. Just take the work. Say yes. Do the work.” (05:38)
• Gene Kelly encounter:
  • Gene advises, “We never learned anything from our successes...our failures, we turned them upside down and inside out. And they taught us everything we know.” (08:12)
  • Mandy calls this “the greatest professional advice and maybe life advice that I might have ever heard.” (08:53)

4. Early Love Story: Meeting Kathryn Grody (08:53–13:57)

• First meeting: Mandy met Kathryn in a LA pizza restaurant but didn’t remember her; their relationship blossomed during a play (The Split).
• Onstage to offstage romance: Describes a scene involving improvisation that felt like “six months of courting in 45 minutes.” (11:27)
• Flowers and fate: His dating advice: “Pick a cheap flower so that you can afford it your whole life.” (12:53)
  • Mandy presented Kathryn with yellow button mum roses and declared, “I’m going to marry you.” Kathryn replied, “You don’t know what you’re talking about.” (13:07–13:22)
• Longevity: “47 years together, 45 years married. And you can do it too.” (13:45)

5. The New Project: The Artist (14:00–16:58)

• Show premise: A Gilded Age murder mystery streaming on “the Network,” featuring an ensemble cast including Patti LuPone, Hank Azaria, and Danny Huston.
• Clips and characterization: Mandy’s character is killed early, with the plot unfolding around “who killed me, and everybody had a good reason to kill me.” (15:10)
• On playing the role: Initially declined the script, but accepted after learning it’s played as a “Russian farce”—meaning 100% committed yet comedic. (16:12)

6. Energy, Creativity, and Family (17:03–18:14)

• Energy philosophy: “Energy leads to energy, and having you here gives me such energy.” (17:08)
• **Open “contact high” between Stephen and Mandy from their dynamic conversation.

7. On Mushrooms and Final Wishes (17:19–18:20)

• Unexpected family proposal: Mandy humorously discusses his kids’ encouragement for him and Kathryn to try mushrooms (psilocybin).
• On-air pact: “If there ever, ever is a last show, I would like to come on with my wife and do those mushrooms with you.” (17:54)
• Stephen promptly books the bit: “You’re booked.” (18:12)

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• “It shows the degradation of the American public.” – Mandy, on his podcast’s premise (04:04)
• “Talk less and listen more to my wife.” – Mandy (04:34)
• “Energy breeds energy. Just take the work. Say yes. Do the work.” – Bob Fosse’s advice, recounted by Mandy (05:38)
• “We never learned anything from our successes…our failures, we turned them upside down and inside out.” – Gene Kelly, recounted by Mandy (08:12)
• “Pick a cheap flower so that you can afford it your whole life.” – Mandy’s advice for romance (12:53)
• “47 years together, 45 years married. And you can do it too.” – Mandy (13:45)
• “If there ever, ever is a last show, I would like to come on with my wife and do those mushrooms with you.” – Mandy (17:54)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Hanukkah & Latkes: 01:57–03:36
• Podcast and Advice: 03:43–04:49
• Professional Lessons: 05:08–08:53
• Love Story: 08:53–13:57
• New Show ‘The Artist’: 14:00–16:58
• Energy & Family: 17:03–17:19
• Mushrooms & Finale: 17:19–18:20

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Episode Tone

Warm, irreverent, and deeply personal, the episode is full of self-deprecating humor, reflective moments, and genuine camaraderie between Colbert and Patinkin. The two skillfully balance levity with thoughtful storytelling, making the episode a delight to both devoted Mandy fans and newcomers alike.

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Transcript

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Mandy Patinkin]

Poncho with Stephen Colbert.

[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome back ladies and germs. My next guest is an Emmy and Tony award winning actor. You know from Evita, the Princess Bride and Homeland. Please welcome back to the Late Show, Mandy Patankin. Nice to see you again.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Good to be here. Thanks for having me.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's my pleasure. We are, I think check my math here. We're one week away from the start of Hanukkah.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you have any, what are your plans? Anything, any big Hanukkah traditions you want to share?

[Mandy Patinkin]

Nothing really big. Just guys coming over named Zoran Mamdani.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, that's nice.

[Mandy Patinkin]

To our house.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Coming over to our house and we're going to teach them how to make potato latkes. Do you have the recipe there?

[Stephen Colbert]

Is that what it is?

[Mandy Patinkin]

I do. No, that's the wrong thing. Hold on, wait. I got a million things for you. Oh gosh.

[Stephen Colbert]

This here is props.

[Mandy Patinkin]

You go To Food Network, I think it's called. It says right here. That's right, Food Network. Mandy Patinkin's mom's potato latkes. Wait.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wait a second. There you go. There you go, there you go. This is what you get.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

You can get this from.

[Mandy Patinkin]

You can get it online.

[Stephen Colbert]

May I?

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yes. Thank you very much. But do not make it the way my wife and I make it. How do you make it? We mess it up on purpose. The big thing is you gotta get the water out of the potatoes and squeeze. You can use a cheesecloth. Squeeze it. But let me tell you, it's a nightmare. And okay.

[Stephen Colbert]

Flour or matzo meal. That's good.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Where do you go?

[Stephen Colbert]

You go with sour cream or applesauce?

[Mandy Patinkin]

We go both sour cream and applesauce.

[Stephen Colbert]

At the same time.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah, you can do it at the same time.

[Stephen Colbert]

On the same latke?

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah, yeah, same latke.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. Sounds wet.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah, well, I'm more of a applesauce guy, but I like the sour cream. But I'm trying to go easy on the dairy.

[Stephen Colbert]

Ladies and gentlemen, that's an exclusive. Manny Patankin going easy on the dairy.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Easy on the dairy.

[Stephen Colbert]

Page six, tomorrow. Well, banner headline. You got the new podcast here, Mr. Potankin.

[Mandy Patinkin]

There you go.

[Stephen Colbert]

Don't listen to us. With your wife, Kathryn Grody and your son Gideon.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah, they're both here. They're somewhere out there. They've come to hang out around there.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's an advice podcast. Is it flattering that people look up to you for advice?

[Mandy Patinkin]

No. It's a shame. It's a. It's. It shows the degradation of the American public.

[Stephen Colbert]

You don't believe in your advice.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I, I, I really, I really. I don't. Come on. No, you look.

[Stephen Colbert]

You look wise.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I, I don't have any advice to give. And when I do give advice, my wife corrects it. So, you know, that's a good marriage. It's called marriage.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's a good marriage. Exactly.

[Mandy Patinkin]

That's a good marriage.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, but what about getting advice? What's the best advice you've ever gotten?

[Mandy Patinkin]

Best advice I've ever gotten. Oh, my God. The best advice I've ever gotten is to not talk so much and listen more to my wife.

[Stephen Colbert]

Fantastic. I'll try that someday.

[Mandy Patinkin]

We went to therapy together, a beautiful woman named Mary Sams, God rest her soul. And she said, you need to talk less and let her talk more. You are so in tune with your feelings. She needs to talk about her feelings. Shut up, Mandy. Wow. Yeah. Yeah. And I paid her 100,000 bucks for the session, and that was it.

[Stephen Colbert]

What about professional advice? Have you ever gotten anything from, like.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Great performers, professional advice? Bob Fosse said to me.

[Stephen Colbert]

Bob Fosse said to you.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I like that.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's a great way to start a sentence.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Bob Fosse, he met with me several times for. I forget the movie that. Oh, I can't remember the actress's name either. With the brother. Who. Marielle Hemingway or. Marielle Hemingway was in it, played the Playboy bunny and the guy, Eric Roberts, killed her.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, yeah, I was up for the Eric Roberts party. Exactly.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Dorothy Stratton.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah. And so, like, you know, Fosse's talking to me, and he's saying about how he had to ask Dustin, you know, for Lenny Bruce to dig deeper. And the way he's saying it to me is like. Cause I'm worried that you're not gonna do that. And I don't know what else went on. He said, but I was being, I was being, you know, I must have been full of. In some ways, you know. And he said, just do. Take the work. Energy breeds energy. Just take the work. Say yes. Do the work. That's great advice. And I thought it was great advice. And so leave the door open. Say yes. You need that structure. It makes you feel alive. And. And I was grateful that he, I was grateful he didn't cast me, and I was grateful for the meeting.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, I agree with the work lead. Work leads to work.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Work leads to work.

[Stephen Colbert]

And this thing you're doing will lead to something that you might even enjoy more.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Talking to you.

[Stephen Colbert]

What?

[Mandy Patinkin]

Talking to you. Right? Yeah. What do you think it'll lead to?

[Stephen Colbert]

You.

[Mandy Patinkin]

No, me talking to you. What do you think it will lead to?

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm trying to get a sentence in here. You need to stop talking so much and listen just a little more.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah. Ye.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you like, do you like working with the family? Please go ahead.

[Mandy Patinkin]

No, no.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you not.

[Mandy Patinkin]

No, no, no. Don't. Don't ask me to go back.

[Stephen Colbert]

I will not. I will not.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I love working with the family. Sometimes it, it's a challenge. But I, I, I, I actually hesitated on this podcast. I didn't think I should be giving anybody advice. Katherine and I were both a bit uncomfortable, and, and our son Gideon just said, just give it a try. Would you please just be positive? I said, well, I don't have anything to say. He says, you never don't have anything to say. Okay. Okay. So we start doing it, and I'm Full of anxiety over it. And then we start listening to it because we have to okay it. And I'm going, it's not so horrible. And I just thought, okay. And then we've actually started having fun. And we've had some extraordinary people come into the room. We had one day, this woman calls up. People call. Sometimes they write. And it's Patricia Kelly, Gene Kelly's widow. Well, come on. Gene Kelly, man. Gene Kelly. So, Stephen, I couldn't breathe the whole time. I just was like. I just kept. Keep her talking. I just wanted to hear everything possible. I love watching Gene Kelly and Fred Astaire.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you ever meet Gene Kelly?

[Mandy Patinkin]

I did. I met him twice. I met him once in his office at Zoetrope when he was doing the second greatest show on Earth or something. And I was a young actor. And he said these words to me exactly like this. And I never forgot it. Let me tell you something, kid. We never learned anything from our successes. Pat you on the back and they send you on your way. But our failures, we turned them upside down and inside out. And they taught us everything we know. And I said, thank you, sir.

[Stephen Colbert]

That might be.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Wow, look at this. Yeah, exactly. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

I got this just for you. That might be better advice than Bob Fosse.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yeah. That was the greatest professional advice and maybe life advice that I might have ever heard. And how did you. My wife gave me. How did I meet my wife? We were. I met her in a restaurant in la, A pizza restaurant on the corner. And I didn't remember her. I remembered the other people sitting at the table. But she told me later she was at that table. Cause I thought someone else at the table was someone else that I thought I knew, which I really didn't know.

[Stephen Colbert]

And so this is a great story so far.

[Mandy Patinkin]

So then we do this play together called the Split by Michael Weller. And I played a guy who was married. And she was the mutual friend of my wife and me. And we split. So we had one scene together in a Italian restaurant with a red and white checkered tablecloth. And I have that picture in my bedroom right on the mantel. And Carol Rothman was the director.

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Commercial Announcer]

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[Stephen Colbert]

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[Mandy Patinkin]

Oh, my goodness.

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Mandy Patinkin]

Are you not entertained?

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Mandy Patinkin]

Streaming this January at the Ensemble Studio Theater in New York, the first festival of One Acts. Danny Stern from Home Alone was in that movie. He had one line. He came up and said, would you like a spoon with that? And he brought down the house. And I just thought, I don't know how the hell he does that. Anyway, but we started improvising and all the things that people say to each other when they're trying to court each other. And the director, we went on for over 45 minutes, and sometime around the 15 minute mark, she left the room and we kept going. And so it went on and on, and it was like six months of courting in 45 minutes. And I wouldn't go out with her until the run was over. And we had two weekends. We did Thursday, Friday, Saturday. Because I got burned once by somebody who I went out with during a play. She dumped me during the play. And then the director came back once, you know, as we're doing this play, and said, why are you crying all the time? Only other time I ever saw somebody crying all the time was Paul Sorvino. Cut it out, will you? Just cut it out. And I said, sure. But I was just, you know, I just. I was with this woman all the time, and she dumped me. And I was trying to get over it because I didn't want. I didn't want to have steel form around my soul and my heart and never be able to feel love again. I was okay. I was okay if it was cement. So it was like I was in prison. I could get a spoon and dig my way out and find love again. But I can't remember now where the story was going. What was I saying? Oh, oh, oh, I know. Welcome to my world. But then we went out. We went out on the first date at the Black Sheep Tavern on Washington and Greenwich. I walk in, I go off to the corner before I get. I get on the subway and I pick up those Yellow Button Mum roses with the little white sprigs for like a buck and a quarter.

[Stephen Colbert]

Sure.

[Mandy Patinkin]

That's my advice to everyone out there in the world. If you're going to start thinking you like somebody, pick a cheap flower so that you can afford it your whole life. So I pick up the yellow button Mum rose and I hand them to her at the Black Sheep Tavern on that corner. And I literally said to her at that moment, I'm going to marry you. And she said, you don't know what you're talking about. If she was sitting here, she'd correct me. But I remember her saying, you don't know what you're talking about. And she was like this. And I had one of those little yellow Polaroid, little yellow cameras. And I got her just like this. And we have that photograph. You don't know what you're talking about. You're an actor and a baby. And you're going to get hurt. You're going to get hurt. And I said, that's okay. I'll wait this one out. And I married her 40.

[Stephen Colbert]

Beautiful.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Here's the lead. I buried the lead. 47 years together, 45 years married. And you can do it too. You can do it too.

[Stephen Colbert]

Mazel tov.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Thank you. L'. Chaim.

[Stephen Colbert]

You have a new show. The Artist.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is a gilded age murder mystery.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yes, I've heard.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. Yes. With your Evita co star, Patti LuPone, Hank Azaria, Danny Houston, who plays a great evil person. I don't know if he's evil in this, but he certainly play villain Streams, a new platform called the Network, which is kind of an ominous name.

[Mandy Patinkin]

And you can watch it free by going to thenetwork Stream. Again, say it with me, audience. You can watch it free by going to thenetwork Stream. Very good. Anywhere you go.

[Stephen Colbert]

You should start a. Huh? We should start a cult. A cult. We have a clip here. Anything we need to know.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Oh, clip. Yeah. I'm in it. Hey, man, it was something to do. You know.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yvonne.

[Commercial Announcer]

Sir. No. Sir.

[Mandy Patinkin]

What? Sir, the bell. The bell is broken. Norman. Dr.

[Stephen Colbert]

Trying to tell you. The doctor.

[Mandy Patinkin]

But you're in a manic spin.

[Commercial Announcer]

You see?

[Mandy Patinkin]

You see?

[Stephen Colbert]

This is why he lost all of his businesses. He can't keep it together under paradise.

[Mandy Patinkin]

All right. I'm begging you to use discretion.

[Stephen Colbert]

We look at it.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I am begging you. I am begging you.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, oh, oh. You don't want Thomas to hear.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Anybody who doesn't need to be here, please go away.

[Stephen Colbert]

Go away right now. As it appears that he's Truly cold under.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor, Doctor. I thank you. Thank you, thank you. That's as good as I've ever been. You find out within the first less than a minute that I get killed, that I'm dead. And you're trying to figure out through the whole thing who killed me. And everybody had a good reason to kill me. And I remember Erin Rapoport, our wonderful director creator, who started this new network called the Network. He. Now I can't remember where I was going again. Aaron Rappaport, who killed me?

[Stephen Colbert]

How you met your wife.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Oh, I know what he said. He said. Cause when I read it the first time, I didn't like it, and I turned it down. And then he said, it's a comedy. And I went, oh. He said, but you gotta play it 100% for real. It's like a Russian farce. So I call Brian Kulik, my intellectual, brilliant, genius friend. What's a Russian farce? I don't remember what he said, but I then read it out loud, very slowly, all the parts, just to myself. And you play it for real, like, you know, it's a love story that you want to come true. And all these lunatics are running around and they burn me physically. Physically, on a pyre. I'd pay.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'd watch that.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I'm okay now. I'm okay now.

[Stephen Colbert]

But, Mandy.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Yes, Please.

[Stephen Colbert]

Thank you for the contact high.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Oh, sure.

[Stephen Colbert]

Because the energy leads to energy, as you said. Energy leads to energy. And having you here gives me such energy.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Somebody made a suggestion to. Oh, am I done? Almost. You're getting rid of me now.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, we turned off the camera a long time ago.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Good. Then just between you and me, Just between you and me, my kids have been begging me and my wife to take mushrooms. You know, mushrooms.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hold on, hold on. Turn the camera on for just a second. Just a second. So yours saying that your children and your wife have been saying you should try.

[Mandy Patinkin]

The children have been saying to my.

[Stephen Colbert]

Wife, oh, the two of you should take mushrooms.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Convincing us she's ready to go.

[Stephen Colbert]

Psilocybin.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Psilocybin.

[Stephen Colbert]

Psilocybin.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Mushrooms. Yeah. Yeah, it's Silas. I thought it. I thought it was psilocybin. Well, whatever it is, it's so great.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'm not into that scene. I wouldn't know.

[Mandy Patinkin]

Okay, okay, okay. But what I'd like to offer you is when. When. And I hope it never comes. But if there ever, ever is a last show, I would like to come on with my wife and do those mushrooms with you.

[Stephen Colbert]

You're booked.

[Mandy Patinkin]

I'm booked. We're booked, honey. We're booked.

[Stephen Colbert]

100%.

[Mandy Patinkin]

All right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Part one of the artist is streaming now on the network, and part two is available Christmas Day. Mandy Patinkin, 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 come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.