Stephen Presents: Laura Benanti

Summary

The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Stephen Presents: Laura Benanti
Date: February 12, 2026
Main Theme:
This episode is centered around celebrating the long-standing comedic partnership between Stephen Colbert and Broadway star Laura Benanti, especially known for her hilariously sharp impressions of Melania Trump on The Late Show. The episode features behind-the-scenes stories of how Benanti’s Melania character came to be, highlights from one of her recent performances, and a candid interview discussing her craft, background, and the humor required to survive political satire.

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Key Discussion Points & Insights

1. Friendly Banter and Podcast Dynamics

• Host Dynamic: Stephen Colbert and co-host Becca open with playful banter about who gets to introduce the episode.
  • "Is a power play good for you. No, no." – Colbert [01:13]
• Guess the Guest Game: Becca quizzes Stephen to guess the guest, giving humorous clues before revealing it is Laura Benanti.
  • "Dear friend of the show. It's not Ian McKellen..." – Colbert [02:23]

2. Origins of Benanti’s Melania Trump Impression

• First "Melania" Performance: Colbert recalls the 2016 Republican Convention and Melania Trump’s infamous plagiarized speech.
  • The team instantly thought of Benanti for an impression due to a prior resemblance joke.
  • "Matt Lapin, one of our producers here… sat bolt upright and went: Melania. Laura Benanti." – Colbert [03:15]
• Fast Turnaround: Laura lives in New York and was able to join the show on short notice, delivering a stellar live performance.
  • "We called her up and she goes, sure, I'll be there tomorrow. And we did the Next Night Live. And she crushed it." – Colbert [03:29]
• Improvisational Talent: Benanti is celebrated for elevating the material with her comedic choices.
  • "She makes so much more of that script than we give her. She makes a meal out of a cracker." – Colbert [04:36]

3. Laura Benanti as Melania: The Recent Satirical Sketch

• Mock "Melania" Interview: A send-up of a fictional Melania Trump documentary, with Laura Benanti gleefully embodying the role.
  • "This film is a deliberate window of tapestries draped over a rich bed frame of insights that are so authorship few have ever seen it, and even less have wanted to." – Benanti as Melania [07:54]
  • "Oh, it's about $28 million in my pocket. Cha Ching." – Benanti as Melania [08:17]
  • Openly mocks the strained Trump relationship and Melania’s public persona:
    • "My husband has not attended my opening in years. Up top." – Benanti as Melania [10:23]
    • "Let's just say it brings a smile to my face every time I look at Eric and think, 'the kid is not my son.'" – Benanti as Melania [09:47]
    • "The only person that should have pulled out in South Africa is Elon Musk's dad. Boom goes the rocket ship." – Benanti as Melania [10:46]

4. In-Studio Interview: Laura Benanti’s Perspective

• First Impressions: Benanti relives the spontaneity of her debut as Melania and the nervous fun of trying to get the accent right.
  • "I appreciate that you guys asked me to do it without having any understanding of whether I could do it or not. Like, you knew I could do the face, but nobody knew if I could do the accent." – Benanti [12:44]
• Developing the Character: Laura recounts obsessively studying Melania’s speech on a train, practicing her mouth movements to the confusion of fellow passengers.
  • "I kept zooming in on her mouth and being like... My husband. And he was like, this woman is insane." – Benanti [13:15]
• Empathy for Melania: Benanti reflects on how impressions require finding humanity in the subject.
  • "To do a good impression, you have sort of sympathize with the person." – Colbert [14:03]
  • "Now we are all Melania Trump. Like, we are all reluctantly married to Donald Trump and making the best of it." – Benanti [14:23]
• Personal Life & Family: Laura shares anecdotes about her mother—a singer and her first voice teacher—and their close relationship, including their recent cabaret performance together.
  • "The first time she'd been on stage in 34 years. Oh, that's good. So, yeah, it was amazing." – Benanti [15:49]
  • "She was my voice teacher as well. And she was like, super patient and loving." – Benanti [16:46]

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Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• "She makes a meal out of a cracker." – Stephen Colbert, praising Benanti's comedic contributions [04:39]
• "It's about $28 million in my pocket. Cha Ching." – Laura Benanti as Melania, on the 'documentary' [08:17]
• "Now we are all Melania Trump. Like, we are all reluctantly married to Donald Trump and making the best of it." – Laura Benanti [14:23]
• "I was not trying to wear her skin like a suit." – Laura Benanti, on researching Melania's facial movements [13:37]
• "The only person that should have pulled out in South Africa is Elon Musk's dad. Boom goes the rocket ship." – Laura Benanti as Melania, satirizing current events [10:46]
• "You have the voice of an angel." – Colbert, complimenting Benanti [17:04]

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Noteworthy Segments with Timestamps

• Guess the Guest Game [01:36 – 02:45]
• The Origins of Melania Impression [03:02 – 04:28]
• Recent Satirical “Melania” Segment [05:04 – 11:13]
• Benanti Interview—Origins & Backstory [11:43 – 15:49]
• Family & Cabaret Anecdotes [15:38 – 16:46]
• Reflections on Voice and Upbringing [16:22 – 17:06]

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Episode Takeaways

• Laura Benanti’s Melania Trump impression has become a staple of The Late Show, both satirizing and, to a degree, humanizing the former First Lady.
• The collaborative nature and improvisational spontaneity of political comedy—especially live—is highlighted.
• Benanti’s warmth, talent, and ability to elevate material through empathy and craft are evident throughout both the satirical sketch and interview.
• The segment also sheds light on her stage roots, family traditions, and the inheritance of artistic dedication.

This episode blends sharp political comedy with personal storytelling, making it a treat for fans of The Late Show, Broadway, or smart, character-driven satire.

Transcript

[A]

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[A]

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[B]

Hey, everybody. You're listening to the Late Show POD Show. I'm joined by Stephen Colbert himself. Hi, Stephen.

[A]

Hi, Becca. I was gonna start this one because I started Monday and you started Tuesday, and I figured. But, you know, power play. Is a power play good for you. No, no.

[B]

How are you gonna start it?

[A]

You grabbed. I was gonna say, hi, Becca. It wasn't gonna be anything really big, but I decided. But when I saw that you went for it, I thought, well, let's. Well, let's make this uncomfortable.

[B]

Yeah. Okay, good. Okay, good. Okay, good. I know my spot. I know my place. Okay, so today I have a guest. The guest for you.

[A]

Oh, I love games.

[B]

This is a game we like to play sometimes. And make Steven guess the guest. Cause he doesn't know who's gonna be on the podcast this week. No, I plan it. And then he comes into the booth and finds out.

[A]

If you feel like there's any effort put into these, it's all Becca.

[B]

Okay. Okay. Okay. Here we go. So this guest is a first lady who's been on our show over 15 times. He's sitting back, he's thinking about it.

[A]

I mean, Michelle hasn't been on the show 15 times.

[B]

She hasn't.

[A]

Wait, wait. She played a first lady? Okay. Who's played the First Lady. It's not Stalker Channing, is it? No, hold. No, no, don't.

[B]

Dear friend of the show.

[A]

Dear friend of the show. It's not Ian McKellen who. Give me another hint.

[B]

She, you know, she's playing a character.

[A]

Character of the First Lady.

[B]

A character of the first lady, specifically for our purposes.

[A]

Oh, Laura Benanti.

[B]

This is Laura Benanti.

[A]

Oh, yes. I just don't think of Melania as the First Lady. I think of her as Melania. It's weird.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

I don't think of her. Yeah. Yeah. And this is an interview with Laura, or is this.

[B]

Yeah, this is a segment from Laura. And yeah, we'll put in the interview, too. Cause she's so great. She's so cool.

[A]

Oh, she's wonderful.

[B]

So how did this start? Cause you've been doing it with her since 2016.

[A]

We were. It was the first year of the show. The show wasn't yet a year old. And when the conventions came around in the summer of 2016, we decided to go live for a lot of reasons. One, you know, you want to be the first one to pick that chicken, get those jokes in. And also, going live just gets the building on its toes. We're doing one more live show coming up, actually, for the State of the Union.

[B]

Excited?

[A]

And are you? We had done. We had done a lot. We had done a live show, and I think Melania had been on the Republican convention, and then it turns out that she had plagiarized a lot of the speech from Michelle Obama's speech. I remember that Obama speech and was like, what do we do with this? And Matt Lapin, one of our producers here, Matt Lapin, I think, in the middle of the night, sat bolt upright and went, melania. Laura Benanti. She looks just like her. Because we had made a joke that she looked just like her. When Laura came on for, like, Supergirl, I think it was Supergirl. And so he remembered how much she looked like Melania Trump and how she kind of had an impression of Melania Trump. And we called her up, and she lived in New York. She goes, sure, I'll be there tomorrow. And we did the Next Night Live. And she crushed it. Obviously. She's a total pro.

[B]

Total pro.

[A]

And she's always up. She's always up for a little bit more.

[B]

You know, she's so down to be goofy and to make a huge.

[A]

She makes so much more of that script than we give her.

[B]

Totally. She.

[A]

She makes a meal out of a cracker.

[B]

Yeah. She's so much fun in rehearsal. She's so down to play with you. You know? The two of you guys have a lot of fun.

[A]

Yes. Amazing singer, Broadway icon, Tony Award winner.

[B]

Yeah.

[A]

How about that? I don't have one of those.

[B]

I don't know. She's.

[A]

Do you have one of those?

[B]

I don't have one of those at all.

[A]

Oh, wow.

[B]

This is Laura Benanti as Melania on the Late Show.

[A]

Hey, I think it would be nice to take a little break from politics and talk about something fun like movies. What do you think about that? You guys want to do that? Great. Let's talk about the Melania documentary. It was released. No, no, no, no, no. If I have to think about it, you have to think about was released on Friday. And despite low initial sales and worse than terrible reviews, Amazon claims the million in its opening weekend, which has been called the best start for a documentary, excluding concert films, in 14 years. That's a lot of qualifiers. It's like your dad saying, you're my favorite child. Excluding daughters since I've had Carl. The $7 million would seem like a solid opening until you realize that less than 10% of the $75 million Amazon spent on the documentary, which includes paying the first lady herself at least $28 million. That. That's enough cash to put a smile on your face, if that were physically possible. The movie had a big premiere party. Was it on Thursday? On Thursday, they had a big premiere party where Melania and Donald Trump walked the black carpet together, showing they have all the chemistry of Bogart and Bacall. Now, when it came to describing what her film was like, the first lady offered this.

[B]

Some have called this a documentary. It is not.

[A]

My film is a very deliberate act.

[B]

Of authorship, inviting you to witness events and emotions through a window of rich imagery. It is a created experience that offers perspectives, insights, and moments that only few have seen.

[A]

What? How do you make a documentary about a lady in a hat and somehow get it more confusing than tenet? All this begs the question, what's this movie about? And does anyone really want to hear more from the first lady here to have us hear more about what this movie is about, please welcome First Lady Melania Trump. Thank you. Thank you for joining us, Madam First Lady.

[B]

Hello, Stephen. It is very cinematic for you to be seeing me right now.

[A]

Uh, Madam first, you must be very busy. I know you had a big release last weekend that everyone is talking about.

[B]

Oh, Stephen, no, I am not here to talk about the Epstein files.

[A]

The release. No, ma'. Am the release I meant was your movie.

[B]

Oh, yes. Melania, the lady. The movie. The motion picture. This film is a deliberate window of tapestries draped over a rich bed frame of insights that are so authorship few have ever seen it and even less have wanted to.

[A]

Wow, that is so many words. But can you actually tell us what the movie is about, ma'?

[B]

Am? Oh, it's about $28 million in my pocket. Cha Ching.

[A]

Yeah, I know. I. Okay, I. I knew that part. I just. I thought it was a documentary. But you keep saying that it isn't. What. What genre will you say it is?

[B]

Oh, just like me, it is a very creepy mystery. I play Melania, the third wife of an aging billionaire. I am moving into a spooky old mansion called the White House, where I definitely live and sleep with my husband. Wink.

[A]

I'm sorry, did you just say the word wink?

[B]

Yes, but Brett Ratner will cut that out. Double wink.

[A]

Okay, about. About Brett Ratner. Why. Why did you want him to direct your movie after multiple women accused him of sexual misconduct?

[B]

What? I don't know this misconduct, but she better drop that attitude if she ever wants to become Mrs.

[A]

Conduct in the movie. You and Brett Ratner actually singing along to Michael Jackson's Billie Jean, and you say it's your favorite song. Why do you love it so much?

[B]

Let's just say it brings a smile to my face every time I look at Eric and think, the kid is not my son.

[A]

Makes sense. As I said, you had a big premiere party last week, and I saw your husband attended your opening.

[B]

Oh, Stephen. My husband has not attended my opening in years. Up top.

[A]

Well, according to Amazon, ticket sales have been good here in the US But I understand that it hasn't done well overseas. It was even pulled entirely out of South.

[B]

They should not have done that. The only person that should have pulled out in South Africa is Elon Musk's dad. Boom goes the rocket ship.

[A]

Well, Madam first lady, congratulations on your film being a movie.

[B]

Oh, thank you, Stephen. And you're not the only one who thinks so, because I have just been given the film world's most prestigious award, the FIFA Oscar for be Best Actress.

[A]

First Lady Melania Trump, everybody. More Late Show Pod show after this, Folks. My next guest is a Tony winner and the Late Show's Melania Trump in residence. Please welcome Laura Benanti. Nice to see you again.

[B]

Nice to see you.

[A]

You know, it has been. It's hard to believe, but it was around this time a year ago because it was the Republican Convention in Cleveland that we first asked you if you could come on here and do a Melania Trump impression.

[B]

Happy anniversary.

[A]

Thank you very much. Thank you very much. We had already. We'd had you on before and noticed how much that you looked like the first lady.

[B]

How dare you. Yes.

[A]

And she's a lovely person. She's a lovely person. When did we call you? Because I seem to remember that you did this on the spur of a moment.

[B]

So I was here promoting she Loves Me, and you mentioned that I looked like her. And then I never really thought much about it, and then neither did we. Right, exactly. And then the infamous plagiarized speech happened.

[A]

Right. It was revealed that parts of the speech was taken from Michelle Obama's speech.

[B]

Right. And I was down in Delaware celebrating my grandmother's 92nd birthday.

[A]

Thank you. 93rd, you go for 93.

[B]

She just turned 93.

[A]

That's fantastic.

[B]

She just turned 93. Thank you. Yeah. And I appreciate that you guys asked me to do it without having any understanding of whether I could do it or not. Like, you knew I could do the face, but nobody knew if I could do the accent. Cause we'd never heard her speak.

[A]

You're a Broadway star, baby.

[B]

That's true.

[A]

You've got that indefinable it.

[B]

Thank you. That's true.

[A]

Okay, so how. So where'd you work on the impression?

[B]

Like, so on the train, my parents drove my mom and my sister drove me to Wilmington, Delaware. Thank you. One person. So I was on the train, and I was, like, obsessively watching her speech. And I was sitting next to this gentleman who looked very disturbed because I kept zooming in on her mouth and being like. And, like, doing it. And then, like, saying out loud, like, my husband. And he was like, this woman is insane. I feel grateful he did not call the police. Sir, if you were watching this, that's what was happening. I was not trying to wear her skin like a suit.

[A]

So one of my favorite things is your vocalization impression of the first lady, I think is fantastic. One of my favorite things is when you don't talk at all, you just smolder.

[B]

Sure.

[A]

Just. Can I have a hint of the smolder at the camera? Sure, Sure. I mean, I suppose you've done her several times on the show. I mean, luckily for us, over the past year, I suppose you've thought about her as a person, because to do a good impression, you have to think about. You have sort of sympathize with the person.

[B]

I do.

[A]

What's your impression of The First Lady.

[B]

Now, after a year, I mean, I feel like basically, now we are all Melania Trump. Like, we are all reluctantly married to Donald Trump and making the best of it. Yeah, we're making the best of it. Yeah. I mean, I feel like America is Melania. You know, I feel like you can't.

[A]

Spell America without Melania.

[B]

There's no way to know.

[A]

There's no way to know.

[B]

But I feel like, you know, we speak many languages, we're curvy. You know, we have a lot in common with Melania, so I do have empathy for her, but at the same time, I'm like, but you also chose that, so.

[A]

Yeah, so did we.

[B]

Did we? Well, the electrical college. Exactly.

[A]

Do you ever, like, slip into her, like, at a moment's notice? Like, are you ever, like, out there and, like, you know, I'm at Starbucks and, like, I'll order his Melania?

[B]

No. I like the idea, though, that she doesn't know what Starbucks is for some reason, that she's like, what is it? Star and Bucks? I like both these things. Like, he's. He's built her her own Starbucks in her, like, bunker where she lives, where she's like, oh, this is nice. She's the only customer. Hello, Phil. I'll have the usual.

[A]

Well, we know that your grandmother just turned 93. You still. Your mother and you have a lovely relationship. You guys still. You guys do cabaret shows together sometimes. Well, your mother's a singer.

[B]

My mother's a singer. She was an actress. And then when I was about two years old, she stopped acting because I had this wonderful nanny. Her name is Gertrude Rigondo. She was from Cuba. And one day I turned to my mother and I said, mama, you're hurting my feelings. And my mom was like, I think I need to spend more time with my daughter because she does not talk like me. So my mom quit acting and she became a voice teacher. And so my mom and I just recently did a cabaret show at Feinstein's 54 below. And it was the first time she'd been on stage in 34 years. Oh, that's good. So, yeah, it was amazing. It was great.

[A]

So when you were a little girl. So when you were a little girl in the house, and when your mom would bring over people to train in singing, were you there as a little girl watching them?

[B]

Yes. I was sitting on her lap, and she tells stories where I would be, like, 3 years old sitting on her lap listening to the student. And I'd be like, no. Nope.

[A]

Yeah, you had your own private American Idol.

[B]

Idol. Very popular. Yes, exactly, exactly. You cut. But yes, she was my voice teacher as well. And she was like, super patient and loving. And a lot of people ask, what is it like to have your mom be your voice teacher? And they assume it would be a nightmare. But my mom is such a loving, funny, hilarious person.

[A]

Well, she must be very good because you have the voice of an angel.

[B]

Thank you.

[A]

Lovely to see you again. Thank you. Laura Benanti, everybody. We'll be right back. 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. Paramount celebrates black voices with stories of excellence and dreaming. Whilst black and Watson mysteries are what we do. Of love in lawman Bass Reeves. My heart hurt when we apart and of community in the neighborhood and the shy. Well, if you need anything at all, I got you. We family explore series, movies and more in the black voices collection on Paramount plus stream now. At Pluto tv, we're celebrating black history month with award winning films like Dreamgirls and Selma. We must make a massive demonstration and full seasons of hit shows like power.

[B]

I got you.

[A]

Brilliant. Black entertainment is on Pluto TV Stream now. Hey, never.