Loading summary
Commercial Narrator
Imagine you finally have a free day out on the town. You're about to enjoy a nice lunch when you get the alert that a window's been broken at home and you're miles away. These are the wake up calls that remind us in one second everything can change. ADT security systems are built for those moments. They help keep your home safer. With 24. 7 monitoring, no one wants to feel unsafe at home or vulnerable when you're away. And with adt, you won't. Their systems are professionally installed by trained technicians so you can trust them to watch out for your home from day one. And ADT has the most company operated monitoring centers in the industry. And the ADT plus app lets you keep tabs on your home from anywhere you have service. You'll get the alerts that matter about your home's safety. Don't wait to prepare your home for an emergency. When every second Counts, count on ADT. Visit ADT.com that's ADT.com or call 1-800-ADT ASAP. That's 1-800-ADT ASAP.
As the school year winds down and summer plans start to take shape, it's easy for learning to slip into the background. But it doesn't have to with ixl. Keeping your child's skills sharp is simple and it only takes a few minutes a day. IXL is an award winning online platform that helps kids truly understand what they're learning. Whether they're building confidence in math, strengthening reading and writing skills, or reviewing key science concepts, IXL makes learning clear and engaging. Designed for students from Pre K through 12th grade, IXL uses personalized interactive content that adapts to your child's level and pace so they're always learning exactly what they need. Studies show kids who use IXL score higher on tests proven in all 50 states. It's an easy way to keep learning on track now through the summer and into the next school year with IXL make an impact on your child's learning. Get IXL now and listeners can get an exclusive 20% off IXL membership when they sign up today at ixllearning.com audio Visit ixllearning.com audio to get the most effective learning program out there at the best price.
Stephen Colbert
Hi, Becca.
Steven
Hi, Steven. How's it going?
Stephen Colbert
It's going pretty well. This is our podcast intros for our last break before the end of the Late show. Yeah, this is it.
Steven
This is the last, Stephen.
Stephen Colbert
The final hiatus.
Steven
Yeah, yeah, it is. It is.
Stephen Colbert
After this, every break I have is semi permanent.
Steven
We're not talking about the end. Cause here it might be the last podcast, but I still got another five weeks of hanging out with you. You know, another month of hanging out. So we're not saying goodbye.
Stephen Colbert
And the thing is about. People go, like, what's it like? You know, the end of the show? And I go, well, it's. Every show is just as hard as the last show or just as fun, you know, like, it's not to put it. You know, not to put it on the downside. And so it doesn't. Physically, it doesn't feel like the show is ending.
Steven
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Because you gotta run through the tape every day.
Steven
Well, also, we've done, what, 1700 of these at this point.
Stephen Colbert
At the end, it'll. 1810.
Steven
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Is the total number.
Steven
Feels like a normal day because we're doing what we always do, which is
Stephen Colbert
a show that day, engaging in recreational exhaustion.
Steven
Something happened the other day where it hit 80 for the first time and everyone kind of had a senioritis. It's almost summertime.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, you mean 80 degrees.
Steven
Yeah, yeah, it was almost 80 degrees. And there was just a vibe of like, oh, it's summer. This is an exciting time.
Interviewer
Yes.
Steven
But then also, oh, it's summer. And we all know what happens this summer, you know, so it was. Emotions were high yesterday, but nice. And we got. We won the softball game. Can we get a whoop, whoop?
Stephen Colbert
You beat John Oliver last week tonight.
Steven
Yes, we did.
Stephen Colbert
Was Oliver there?
Steven
He was not there. He was not there.
Stephen Colbert
Okay, well, I feel better about not showing up.
Steven
Oh, no, it was busy. You were partying all night with Billy Crystal at the show. You know, the crew barely made it to the game.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, God, that's right.
Steven
We went kind of.
Stephen Colbert
I was sitting there while Billy was telling the stories, and I thought, well, I mean, what. What is this hurting? And then I forgot that there was a baseball game.
Steven
First game of the year. We got a game every week, so we'll see out there.
Commercial Narrator
One and O.
Steven
This is just a fun thing we do at the Late Show. Me and Steven doing these podcast intros. And I'm going to hit you now because we got. We got to enjoy every minute.
Stephen Colbert
Very little time and a lot to get done here. Yes.
Steven
Okay. Guess the guest.
Stephen Colbert
Okay, great.
Steven
This night's podcast is the first guest of the Late Show.
Stephen Colbert
Clooney.
Steven
Yeah.
Commercial Narrator
Wow.
Steven
Yeah. Yeah. I want to talk about the first episode.
Stephen Colbert
Sure. Oh, come on, let's do it.
Steven
And the guests, George and Jeb.
Stephen Colbert
Jeb.
Interviewer
Jeb.
Steven
Jeb.
George Clooney
Yep.
Stephen Colbert
Jeb Bush.
Steven
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
Remember, he Was gonna be president.
Steven
Yeah. Crazy, crazy, crazy time. Yeah. I recently rewatched the first episode.
Commercial Narrator
Wow.
Steven
Crazy time. So I wasn't here.
Interviewer
I watched.
Stephen Colbert
I watched the. That whole. That first act about. Or was it the second act about? It was largely about Donald Trump. It was about that the news could not fight the temptation to talk about Donald Trump, and I was criticizing them. But then in the course of actually doing the act, I can't fight the temptation to talk about him either.
Steven
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
And I'm likening him to garbage food Oreos. Well, yeah, in this case, it was sucking down a sleeve of Oreos and I ended up just dumping it on my face afterwards. Yeah. And it all worked. It all made sense. You know, it still makes sense, but it really made sense for the time.
Steven
It's really timeless.
Stephen Colbert
Okay, so what, you were not here for it. Would you want to know something about it?
Steven
I mean. Yeah, I guess. What did you wake up that day thinking? First day of the Late Show?
Stephen Colbert
Well, I mean, we were comedically, we were loaded for bear because we weren't like daily topical at the time because we weren't doing a true monologue. I was trying not to do a monologue because I thought, well, like, everybody has a monologue. I don't want to do a monologue. Jon Stewart, like, literally right before the first show, he goes, wait, you're not doing a monologue? I said, no, I want to do something totally different. He goes, you're gonna change like a 70 year tradition and not do a monologue? Yeah, I just want to do something that's different. He goes, okay, you might enjoy the monologue. I'm like, I'm not a stand up. I don't think that's a thing for me. And he's like, okay, well, this is your opportunity to. And it turned out to be right that I ended up loving the monologue. It's a ton of fun. So there was no monologue. So we had everything kind of ready to. Ready to rock for that night. I was much more curious about, like, what's. What was Jeb gonna be like? Or I knew the Clooney would be fine, but. And come on. Yeah. And what I was not prepared for was the fact that the show would not feed to the network and what that means for people who don't know, that means we have it in the avid. These computers here where everything gets edited on these avid computers. The program is called avid. And we were all. At the time. And then Jason Baker, who was editing one of the act. I forgot which Act. It was. It wouldn't export. It was the first act. It was the very first act. It would not export to a file that could then be sent to master control at the network where other things happen to it. There's some sort of QC quality control happens or something like that, or, I don't know, they put the bug in the corner that says like PG 13 or whatever. I don't know. And then it goes out to the world. It wouldn't export.
Steven
Oh, my gosh.
Stephen Colbert
And I am like, contractually, I was executive in charge of production. You know, we didn't have a showrunner. It was me. And while there was a network liaison, I just directly dealt with the network at the time. I don't recommend that. And it was, I remember it was like 11:15. And we go on 11:35. And my whole family, like, I'm one of many, many children, brothers and sisters, but everybody's at this party. Yeah. And all my friends, opening party, opening night. I didn't ever go because I can't leave the building until I know that this show is going to be on the air. Because it would crash. They would play it and one minute and like 19 seconds into the monologue, it would crash every time. And they can't figure out what's wrong. And they can't figure out what's wrong because you feed it live like you feed it as you play it. And I finally, 11:15, I went, wow, somebody's got a dollar network. And I went, oh, wait, I'm executive in charge of production. And I said out loud, somebody get me Les Moonves number. Because I gotta tell him that there may not be a show tonight.
Steven
Oh my God.
Stephen Colbert
And all I can think of is this is gonna be the shortest late night career anyone's ever had. I got to be canceled without ever broadcasting a show is what I thought.
Steven
Oh, my God.
Stephen Colbert
And I think that was actually not a crazy little pot of fear to sit in at that moment. And Jason kept on saying, guys, I'm gonna hit this. We've got to feed it directly from this computer. We can't go to master control. It has to go directly from this computer to the satellite feed. And that's gonna go out to the world. He goes, I'm push this button pointing at his keyboard. I'm gonna push that button and it's gonna show up on TVs all over America. And I'm like, you don't know that. You can't prove that that's gonna happen. And Eric Ackerblom who is one of our technical directors here. He. I don't know what his actual title is. Please forgive me, Eric. And he came up to me and put his hands on my shoulders and was like, hey, man, we're gonna figure it out. And I said, Eric, it's 11:22. But he was telling me, like, don't call less. He was saying, don't call less. We're gonna figure it out. And that was 13 minutes before it would go in the air. And so we eventually gave up. Like, we didn't figure it out. We gave up. And we believed in Jason Baker, who we call the bakeshop, his editing room. So we believed in the bakeshop, but we didn't know if it was gonna work. Cause of course it was gonna play on his computer. That's where he edited it. So we had to get to a tv. There wasn't time. By the time we made the decision, there was not time to get in the elevator to go to my office to watch. We had to go down the hallway here on this floor.
Steven
Yeah.
Stephen Colbert
And I kicked off, opened the door to one of the accountant's offices. Because it was locked. I kicked.
Steven
Sarah Molinari was the accountant at that time.
Stephen Colbert
I kicked open the door. And we went in there and we had a big bottle of Old Forester bourbon. And we were passing around this bottle, waiting for it to happen. And then the moment we get to where it crashed, it didn't crash. And we have a photo of Jason Baker standing up with one fist in the air. And he's got this great rock and roll hair. One fist in the air, and he
Interviewer
goes, deal with it.
Stephen Colbert
So that's all I remember from that first night. In retrospect, I should have had, like. I should have had, like, a Rick roll ready to go. If we actually. We would just drop that in there. Yeah.
Steven
But that's. That gave birth to one of my favorite late show sayings, which is, I'm going to press the button. It's going to go on the tv.
Stephen Colbert
Right? That's where that came from.
Steven
That's where that came from.
Stephen Colbert
Hey, man, I'm gonna push the button. It's gonna end up on the tv
Steven
whenever anyone's like, how are we gonna fill out this all on the show tonight? Or like, oh, this edit's gonna be a bear. Or like, oh, we're still rewriting, and it's 6pm Everyone just says, you're gonna push a button and it's gonna go on the tv and it's all gonna be okay.
Stephen Colbert
And that's the moment it came from.
Steven
Yeah. All right. Well, this is the first interview on the Late Show. Please enjoy.
Interviewer
Jon b. Welcome back, everybody. You know, speaking of maintaining one's humanity, my first guest is an Oscar winning actor, screenwriter, producer, director and activist. Please welcome Mr. George Clooney. Thank you.
George Clooney
Wow.
Interviewer
Thank you so much.
Steven
Thank you.
Interviewer
Thank you. Thank you. Thank you for being here. Thank you for being here on such a big night.
George Clooney
Big night, big show.
Interviewer
Really grateful that you could be here.
George Clooney
Yeah.
Interviewer
Couldn't have worn a tie.
Stephen Colbert
You feel bad about that?
Interviewer
Where can we lean in here?
George Clooney
Yeah. You got a little cookie? Little cookie.
Interviewer
Thank you very much. Thank you very much. Usually have to pay someone a fair amount of money to do that.
George Clooney
Thank you, George. And I'm not cheap.
Interviewer
No, thank you. Thanks for being here. And thank you for coming dressed up
Stephen Colbert
as your evil twin.
George Clooney
Yeah, exactly. That's my move.
Interviewer
Oh, yes. I'm George Clooney. Of course I am. Shoot him. Not me. I'm particularly grateful that you're here because you don't actually have a project to push or anything.
George Clooney
I have nothing to push.
Interviewer
You're just here because you're a nice guy.
George Clooney
I'm just here to see you.
Stephen Colbert
Well, thank you very much.
George Clooney
And I think that's what everybody else is.
Interviewer
That's true.
Steven
Thank you very much.
Interviewer
That's nice. Thank you very much. He's the guest. He's the guest, not me. Let's talk about you for a second, please. That's called a clock goblin. That's called a clock goblin. No, I like it. What is it exactly? All right, well, listen, there's always. The nice thing about you is there's always something to talk about, even if you don't have a project.
George Clooney
And we have time for one more question.
Interviewer
We might. We might warn the affiliates we might be going long tonight. There's always something to talk about with you because you're one of those rare famous people who cares about something other than himself. How did that.
George Clooney
That's not true. Really?
Steven
No.
Interviewer
No. You really care about yourself.
George Clooney
I care about me. Me, me, me.
Stephen Colbert
Okay.
George Clooney
Yeah.
Interviewer
So tell me how you're working to help people, say, in Darfur, because you were the guy who I first found about Darfur from. You know, how did that come about? How did somebody who's in a business where generally when the camera's not on, you're looking for your reflection on a shiny surface.
George Clooney
That's a.
Interviewer
Why do you care about something going on in another country that doesn't pay for moves?
George Clooney
Well, they Pay. It's just very, very little. And the films are translated terribly. You know, I was. I found out. I was reading Nick Kristof articles in the New York Times, and I. This was in 2005, I think, and they were talking about a genocide at the time going on in Darfur. And I thought it wasn't getting enough play for a genocide. That should get a lot of airtime, I thought. And since I don't. I'm not responsible for making policy or anything. You've got Jeb Bush. He can talk. Talk about that later. But my feeling was I can bring attention and make it louder. And so that was a lot of our. There was a lot of youth groups and a lot of church groups and people. Everybody was really trying to put it on the map because we were worried about it. And it was a very hard thing to put on the map and keep on the map.
Interviewer
Now can I talk about your wife, Amal?
George Clooney
Sure, yeah.
Interviewer
What is it like to be the arm candy in a relationship? Because she's the very serious person.
George Clooney
Yes.
Interviewer
You. She must just say, like, we're going to meet some extremely intelligent people tonight. These are. These are not show folk.
George Clooney
Please don't talk more of this, less of that.
Interviewer
Yeah, exactly.
Stephen Colbert
Okay.
Interviewer
Just be shiny. Okay.
George Clooney
Shiny and pretty.
Interviewer
Yeah.
George Clooney
Yeah. That's mostly what I do.
Interviewer
And congratulations. Congratulations on getting married last year.
George Clooney
Thank you.
Interviewer
It hasn't been quite. Not quite a year. Not quite a year. Not quite a year.
George Clooney
They said it wouldn't last.
Interviewer
Yeah, I didn't. I knew it would.
Stephen Colbert
I knew it would last.
Interviewer
Is it going well?
George Clooney
It's going really well.
Interviewer
I knew that would happen.
George Clooney
Yeah.
Interviewer
Now, my understanding is that within one year of someone getting married, you can still give them a wedding present.
George Clooney
Yes, that's right.
Interviewer
Okay. And so I got you.
Stephen Colbert
I got you something. Here.
Interviewer
I got you something.
Stephen Colbert
And.
George Clooney
Oh, it's a Tiffany bow.
Interviewer
Thank you. Yeah. I wasn't invited to the wedding.
George Clooney
No.
Interviewer
Yeah. We don't know each other.
George Clooney
Not for you to come to the wedding.
Interviewer
I don't know.
Stephen Colbert
I just met you tonight.
George Clooney
It would have been really odd, actually.
Interviewer
So I don't think. I know. I don't know you, but I just think. Wanted to give you something and so.
George Clooney
Well, thank you.
Interviewer
And you can share that with your wife.
George Clooney
Can I open it now?
Interviewer
Yeah, go ahead. Please.
Stephen Colbert
Please do.
George Clooney
Is it. Wow, It's. Yeah, it is really a Tiffany.
Interviewer
Come on, I'm on network now, man.
Stephen Colbert
Of course it's going to be Tiffany.
George Clooney
This isn't Comedy Central.
Interviewer
Swag. It's engraved.
George Clooney
It's engraved.
Interviewer
What does it say?
George Clooney
It says, I don't know you.
Interviewer
All right. All right.
George Clooney
And I believe it's a paperweight.
Interviewer
It's a paperweight. Exactly. And that's. That's just to remind you that we don't know each other.
George Clooney
We don't know each other.
Interviewer
Very grateful that you came on.
George Clooney
Right.
Interviewer
And I don't want to be that celebrity thing where we pretend we know each other.
George Clooney
No, no, no. We don't know each other.
Interviewer
You can pass that on to another celebrity who you don't know, but have to pretend that you do know them.
George Clooney
Oh, okay.
Interviewer
It's a reminder that we don't actually know each other.
Stephen Colbert
Perfect.
Interviewer
And such an honor to have you here because, again, you don't have anything to push.
George Clooney
Well, no, I. You know, it's easier to come on these shows when you do have.
Interviewer
Really? Could it be easier if you have a project to push?
Stephen Colbert
Sure.
George Clooney
It depends on the project. Obviously, you want something that you could
Interviewer
talk about, but obviously we would always have something to talk about because we're famous.
Commercial Narrator
Right.
Interviewer
We could pretend that you have a movie right now.
George Clooney
Okay.
Steven
Yeah, Good. Okay.
Stephen Colbert
All right.
Interviewer
Let's say it's some sort of like an action thriller, Something like that.
George Clooney
Okay.
Stephen Colbert
Okay.
George Clooney
All right.
Interviewer
Call it a decision strike.
Stephen Colbert
How about that?
Interviewer
Okay. You play tough, no nonsense. Secretary General of the UN how about that?
George Clooney
Okay.
Interviewer
Okay. All right. All right.
George Clooney
Okay. The whole world is on the brink of destruction and. And my character's the only one that could stop it.
Stephen Colbert
All right. That sounds exciting.
Interviewer
That sounds exciting.
George Clooney
I like it.
Interviewer
I think we have a clip.
Stephen Colbert
Jim, really.
Commercial Narrator
Not now.
George Clooney
Damn it.
Interviewer
I'm defusing a nuclear bomb. Wow. That's amazing. That's powerful, George. I gotta say. I gotta say, George, for a non existent movie, that's powerful stuff.
Stephen Colbert
Thank you.
George Clooney
Well, you know, it's all. It mostly was the. The direction, though, really.
Interviewer
Who's the. Who's the director?
George Clooney
I was, and I wrote it.
Interviewer
And Triple Threat.
Stephen Colbert
Okay.
Interviewer
Now, is this movie. Is this movie all action or is there any romance in it?
George Clooney
No, there's plenty of romance. I think we have a clip. Not now.
Interviewer
I'm making love to a woman.
Commercial Narrator
It's very romantic. Come on.
Interviewer
Wow, that's pretty. Yeah, that was pretty. That was pretty hot stuff, George.
George Clooney
Well, sex sells, Stephen. Sex sells.
Interviewer
Now, is any of that cgi or did you do your own sex in the movie?
George Clooney
I did my own sex. I did my own sex. In fact, I do all of my own stunts. I think the audience deserves it.
Stephen Colbert
Oh, yeah? Yeah.
Interviewer
Okay, well, let's take a look. I can't talk right now. I forgot we're on an airplane this whole time and I got sucked out the door. Must get these launch codes into the bird's beak to the girl that I had sex with earlier so she could make the decision. Chad.
Steven
Whoa.
Interviewer
Wow. That's amazing, George. Unbelievable. Unbelievable. Incredible. Please, Please do not tell me what happens next.
George Clooney
I won't because the movie does not exist.
Interviewer
And the sex scenes.
George Clooney
No, those happen.
Interviewer
Okay, well, George, I want to sincerely thank you for being my first guest. That's one down. And please come back many, many times. Congratulations. Thank you very much. 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, you YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives.
Stephen Colbert
Ryan Reynolds here from Mint Mobile with a message for everyone paying Big wireless way too much. Please, for the love of everything good in this world, stop with Mint. You can get premium wireless for just $15 a month. Of course, if you enjoy overpaying. No judgments. But that's weird. Okay, one judgment anyway. Give it a try. @mintmobile.com Switch upfront payment of $45 for
Commercial Narrator
3 month plan equivalent to $15 per month required intro months only. Then full price plan options available, taxes and fees extra. See full terms at mintmobile.
Interviewer
Com.
Date: April 28, 2026
Guest: George Clooney
This episode of The Late Show Pod Show is a throwback to Stephen Colbert’s very first Late Show interview with George Clooney. Airing during the show’s final hiatus, the episode takes a nostalgic look back at the nerves, chaos, and camaraderie of that inaugural night. With characteristic wit and warmth, Colbert and his team reminisce about both the technical drama behind the scenes and the good-humored, revealing conversation with Clooney, who joined the first show without any project to promote.
(02:11 – 11:11)
(04:43 – 11:02)
(11:11 – 20:15)
The episode is marked by Stephen Colbert’s signature blend of sincerity, sharp wit, and playful irreverence. The banter with Clooney is relaxed and comedic, with self-aware nods to late-night traditions, the artifice of celebrity interviews, and backstage anxieties. Clooney matches Colbert’s tone, offering dry humor and self-mockery without overshadowing the genuine moments of reflection.
This summary captures the full flavor and important moments of “Stephen Presents: George Clooney” for listeners seeking both nostalgia and a peek backstage at one of late night’s modern milestones.