Stephen Presents: Stephen Takes A Meeting

Summary

Podcast Summary: The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode Title: Stephen Presents: Stephen Takes A Meeting
Release Date: March 19, 2025
Host: CBS
Description: This episode features Stephen Colbert engaging in a candid and humorous on-air meeting with his longtime producer, Liz Levin. The conversation delves into the dynamics of producing a high-paced late-night show, personal anecdotes from Stephen's career, and the camaraderie behind the scenes.

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1. Introduction to the Meeting Segment

The episode opens with Stephen Colbert and his producer Becca discussing the format of the podcast and introducing a special segment where Stephen revisits past moments from the show. Becca introduces the premise of having a "blast from the past" by showcasing clips that highlight memorable interactions and behind-the-scenes stories.

2. Stephen Reflects on His Relationship with Producer Liz Levin

Timestamp 01:06 - 03:36

Stephen reminisces about his former producer, Liz Levin, whom he hired during the early days of The Colbert Report. He shares heartfelt memories of Liz's integrity and dedication, emphasizing her role in shaping the show's success.

• Stephen Colbert: "She came in so embarrassed that’s what she did for a living. I went, I want to hire her. Like, the fact that she came in and said, like, I know what we’re doing is wrong. And that showed me that she had some sort of soul." [02:00]

Stephen highlights Liz's patience and the seamless working relationship they maintained for over a decade, portraying her as an indispensable part of his professional life.

3. The Chaos of Early Show Production

Timestamp 03:38 - 05:19

Stephen delves into the tumultuous transition from The Colbert Report to The Late Show, describing the initial chaos and the learning curve involved in ramping up production to meet the demands of a nightly, hour-long format.

• Stephen Colbert: "We knew what we were doing at that point. At least we knew how to do the thing we wanted to do, whether or not we were doing it. So you never even saw the chaos." [04:05]

He uses a metaphor to illustrate their improvisational approach: "Like we hadn’t built the car yet, and we wanted to race, drive, and that was the bind we had." [03:38]

4. On-Air Meeting with Liz Levin

Timestamp 09:43 - 13:53

The core of the episode features an on-air reenactment of a meeting between Stephen and Liz Levin. This segment is both comedic and insightful, showcasing the real-time challenges of show production.

Notable Interactions:

• Liz Levin: "You're always late." [12:33]

  This exchange highlights the playful tension and mutual respect between Stephen and Liz, underscoring the behind-the-scenes efforts required to keep the show running smoothly.

• Stephen Colbert: "And you're out of time." [13:53]

  The segment culminates in Liz expressing the constraints of their work environment, emphasizing the necessity of conducting meetings on-air due to their hectic schedules.

5. Personal Anecdotes and Behind-the-Scenes Stories

Timestamp 05:21 - 09:41

Stephen shares personal stories that provide a glimpse into his life beyond the show. Notably, he recounts an intense day when he suffered from a ruptured appendix, detailing how he managed to continue working through the ordeal.

• Stephen Colbert: "I had to lie down... I was sweating, shaking, and I think crying at one point." [07:17]

Despite the severity of his condition, Stephen humorously describes the experience of rewriting scripts while incapacitated, demonstrating his dedication and the supportive nature of his team.

• Stephen Colbert: "That's how we rewrote it. That's, like, the least I ever spoke in that room." [08:23]

6. The Role of Humor and Teamwork in Production

Throughout the episode, Stephen emphasizes the importance of humor and teamwork in overcoming the challenges of producing a daily late-night show. The on-air meeting with Liz Levin serves as a testament to the collaborative spirit and the ability to find levity even in stressful situations.

• Liz Levin: "We like for airplanes and trains and stuff like that." [12:43]

This comment, referencing their track record of punctuality, underscores the reliance on each other's strengths to maintain the show's schedule.

7. Conclusion and Takeaways

The episode concludes with reflections on the evolution of The Late Show and the integral roles played by producers like Liz Levin and Becca. Stephen underscores the seamless blend of professionalism and personal connection that drives the show's success.

• Stephen Colbert: "We've almost recovered from how hard it was to make the transition from the Colbert Report to this show." [05:19]

The final moments invite listeners to engage further with the show through online platforms, highlighting the continuous expansion of The Late Show's presence.

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Notable Quotes

• Stephen Colbert: "The speed of the game... every day was like the finals." [05:56]

• Liz Levin: "This is what we do in meetings. I eat while she talks." [12:06]

• Stephen Colbert: "You healed me." [08:50]

• Becca: "I've always. I find you very schedulable." [04:44]

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Conclusion:
Stephen Presents: Stephen Takes A Meeting offers an engaging behind-the-scenes look at the intricate dynamics of producing a top-tier late-night show. Through personal anecdotes, humorous exchanges, and heartfelt reflections, Stephen Colbert provides listeners with an intimate glimpse into the dedication and teamwork that drive The Late Show Pod Show. This episode serves as a testament to the enduring relationships and unwavering commitment that sustain high-quality entertainment production.

Transcript

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[Stephen Colbert]

Hi, Becca.

[Becca]

Hi, Stephen.

[Stephen Colbert]

Stephen Colbert here with my producer Becca for the Colbert. What is this called?

[Becca]

I call him Steven Presents.

[Stephen Colbert]

Steven, really?

[Becca]

Stephen Presents.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Becca]

I think that makes it nice. We could change it if you.

[Stephen Colbert]

No, I like it. You're the producer. I just work here.

[Becca]

Steven presents.

[Stephen Colbert]

Steven presents the POD Show. Classic.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Shows that are just being rebroadcast on the pod while we're off for a week. And sometimes little special things are in there. Who do we got today?

[Becca]

We do have a special thing today. This was actually a clip. Sometimes during the day at our show, you will be reminded of something we've done on the show before. Sort of a blast from the past. And we'll have sort of TV time and we'll watch it together this week. This week you had something.

[Stephen Colbert]

I make us watch bits from our show.

[Becca]

Yeah, it's fun. Yeah, you do. Or like other shows, you know.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, go ahead.

[Becca]

You know, what was this for? We love TV here. Sometimes it's our own show. Exactly. But this was something that you wanted to watch this week when someone asked you about scheduling a meeting.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, this. Okay. I used to have a producer, still a dear friend, a producer named Liz Levin. And she had been a producer. She was hired from the very beginning of. Of the Colbert Report. And I hired her because she came in to be a field producer. And the job she had just been working on was the show Boiling Point on MTV where they would. It was a hidden camera show where they put people in situations that were so frustrating for them that I think they were waiting for them to blow their top, and then they would capture this person blowing their top on camera. And she came in so embarrassed that that's what she did for a living. I went, I want to hire her. Like, the fact that she came in and said, like, I know what we're doing is wrong. And that showed me that she had some sort of soul. And I went, let's get her in here. So she's wonderful. She is 6-263-tall, stately. She's like a Valkyrie. Beautiful, blonde, and incredibly patient with me. Yes. We had worked together, like, continually for 10 years. Like, she was like just an absolute blood in my vein. Fantastic producer. And when we got to do this show, it was just too busy for me to actually have the kind of same interaction I had with the staff at the old show, which was. Well, the clip will show. What I'm talking about is this was very early on when we hadn't figured out how to produce this damn show that we do.

[Becca]

It's 2015.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah. We still knew how to do jokes. We didn't know how to get them out of our brain and onto paper in time for the show every night. Because literally, almost like the mechanics of doing a television show, it was like we hadn't built the car yet, and we wanted to race, drive, and that was the bind we had. And we're building the car as we drove down the street. And she was one of the casualties of that. Everybody who needed a meeting with me was a casualty of that.

[Becca]

Yeah, yeah. So the concept here is that you were literally too busy to have this meeting, so you had it on air, on tv.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yes. And it's true. I impress upon the audience in this that it is true. This is the way we could have this meeting. And that's not a lie. We made a bug, a feature. I think she might have been in rehearsal, and she goes, we can't get the piece on next week that you want to have on, because I can't get it done because you can't give me a meeting. I said, why don't we just meet here on the show? And she agreed, and God bless her for that. One thing you should know is at a certain point, you'll see a big laugh, and she'll say, yep, this is how our meetings go. Because what you can't see at home is that I'm eating chicken wings.

[Becca]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

All right. There you go.

[Becca]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. That's great. I've always. I find you very schedulable. I feel like. Well, maybe it's just because we do it on the podcast.

[Stephen Colbert]

When did you start here?

[Becca]

I started in 2019.

[Stephen Colbert]

We already had this thing absolutely strapped down. By, like, mid-2016. Like, four months after this, we had this thing absolutely humming.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

We knew what we were doing at that point. At least we knew how to do the thing we wanted to do, whether or not we were doing it. So you never even saw the chaos. You never even saw the scramble. You never saw us weeping blood in the Garden of Gethsemane.

[Becca]

I wish I did, though.

[Liz Levin]

No, you don't.

[Stephen Colbert]

No, you don't. We've almost recovered from how hard it was to make the transition from the Colbert Report to this show. I've almost stopped getting cold sweats as to how little we had prepared ourselves for the change in kind of the speed of play. Jon Stewart used to say, like, it's. You know, when you go from, like, doing a show to doing an everyday show, it's like going from college ball to pro ball. Like, the speed of the game. Well, this just kicked it up another level. Like, every day was like the finals.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

So. No, you do not. You came in. We're much nicer now.

[Becca]

Okay, great. And everyone is so nice. And even Liz Levin in this clip. I love that she. I didn't work with her. Unfortunately, she wasn't. She hasn't been here when I've been here. But her attitude is so perfect where she's not stressing out, she's not angry with you. She's not like, oh, no, I'm messing. Like, she's just very matter of fact. So you haven't talked to me in two and a half weeks. And here I am. And here I am.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you watch the thing that I sent you so we could have this meeting? No, I did not.

[Becca]

Yeah, and that's a very real attitude that our producers have here.

[Stephen Colbert]

Liz. Liz had this thing that on the. It wasn't just on the show. On the old show, like, I'd be so tired that I would go in and I would lie down on her desk.

[Becca]

Oh, my God, I would be so.

[Stephen Colbert]

Tired, I would lie down on her desk. And one day on her desk, she had a red folder and a blue folder, and I don't know what the folders were doing there, but I had to take the folders off the desk to lie down on it. It was really a credenza in her office wasn't on her desk. I laid it on a credenza and There was a red folder and blue folder. So I just picked up the red folder and blue folder, and I just kind of hugged them to my chest, each in one hand. And I wasn't planning this, but she would ask me a question about some shoot we had to do, and if the answer was no, I would hold up the red folder, and if the answer was yes, I would hold up the blue folder. She's like, okay, I think that's yes. And I would hold up the red. The blue folder again. And that became. After a while, that became our shorthand. I didn't have to give. Like, we had no time for meetings, so I would just hold up one color folder or the other.

[Becca]

That's amazing.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Becca]

Yeah. Let's bring that back. That's really fun. Yeah. All right, great.

[Stephen Colbert]

I've done that in rewrite. I've done a rewrite where I've been so tired. Like, ooh, the night I had my. The night I had my appendicitis. Remember that?

[Becca]

Of course I do.

[Stephen Colbert]

So you were in the room.

[Becca]

I was in the room.

[Stephen Colbert]

So my appendixes burst. I did not know my appendixes were worse. But I was sweating, shaking, and I think crying. I think I was weeping at one point.

[Becca]

It was bad.

[Stephen Colbert]

And I had to lie down. I had to unbutton my pants because I thought it was just intestinal. I had unbuttoned my pants, and I lay down on the couch that usually has two or three people on it. I lay down on that, and either Ariel or Jay, I forgot who was at the computer. Maybe Ariel just read the whole script to me. I didn't read anything. I closed my eyes. She read the script, and if I liked the joke, I just put my thumb up. Meaning, move on. Let's not even worry about that. And if I didn't like it, I would put my thumb down, and then someone would wait for me to express why I put my thumb down.

[Becca]

Yeah. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

And then I'd have to go, like, could you. What if we cut that? How would that heal the script? Like, what. What happens? How do the beats flow together? If we just. If we just cut that joke? And they would then say, well, I would go from this to this, and I would. Then I'd put my thumbs up and go, that sounds fine with me. And that's how we rewrote it. That's, like, the least I ever spoke in that room.

[Becca]

That was an insane day. I brought you a ginger ale, and I thought, oh, there you go.

[Stephen Colbert]

You healed me.

[Becca]

That was the cure. I Said he has a dummy ache and no, you headed a burst appendix inside.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, I like tummy ache.

[Becca]

Yeah, tummy ache.

[Stephen Colbert]

I haven't heard tummy ache in a long time. But that's exactly what I had. I had a tummy ache. Yeah, yeah. But it turns out that I was. I'm sorry, what's the word? Dying.

[Becca]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Which is funny cuz it's true.

[Becca]

And then you had a cotton candy wrap something with Jose Andres.

[Stephen Colbert]

Jose Andres. And he danced with me. He danced with me. It was insane.

[Becca]

Everyone who knew what was going on with you, which was me, like after a rewrite, was watching that taping like on the edge of my seat of like. How is he doing?

[Stephen Colbert]

He's twirling me.

[Becca]

How is he doing?

[Stephen Colbert]

Jose Andres is twirling me on stage.

[Becca]

Yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

God bless him.

[Becca]

But you're okay?

[Stephen Colbert]

Love that man.

[Becca]

Everything's great.

[Stephen Colbert]

We're all good.

[Becca]

We're all good.

[Stephen Colbert]

Or I died and this has all been held since then. That's why the news is what it is.

[Becca]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, let's find out.

[Becca]

Let's find out. This is Liz Levin taking a meeting with Stephen on the Late Show.

[Liz Levin]

Welcome back, folks. As we were saying before, we work really hard on the show right now and the show is a little different than the last show we used to do. We do five a week instead of four a week. We do an hour a night instead of a half hour a night, and we do it two hours earlier than we used to. So I have zero time in my day to hang out with my staff or meet with my producers, the people who actually have to do the show that you're seeing that night. And this is absolutely true. There is one of my producers named Liz Levin and she's been trying to get a meeting with me. Come on out here, Liz. Come on out here. This is Liz Levin. Okay. Hey, how are ya?

Hi.

Goodness down. This is absolutely true. We're not making this up. Right? You've been trying to get a meeting with me for how long?

About two and a half weeks.

And how many times have I blown you off?

Well, last night would have been the fifth time for a really.

And I blew you off again.

Yeah, you did.

I blew you off again. Okay, so what we decided to do is the only time I actually have to talk to anybody is on air. So I swear I don't know how to convey to you that we're not making this up. We're gonna have a meeting right now. I'm not entirely sure what it's About. But I asked her to have this meeting with me so long ago that I can't remember what it's about.

That makes sense.

And so this is it. Go. What do you need to find out from me?

Did you watch the rituals quicktime I sent you did it?

[Stephen Colbert]

What?

[Liz Levin]

Did you watch the rituals QuickTime?

The scene about rituals I do before the show. I have not watched it, no.

Ok, perfect.

Ok. How long ago did you send it to me?

Like middle of last week. Beginning of last week.

No, I have not watched it.

How long is it? That's fine.

[Stephen Colbert]

How long is it?

[Liz Levin]

It's about three and a half right now. But we still don't have time for that. Ok, perfect. So we still have to shoot one. We shot three quarters of it last two Tuesday.

[Stephen Colbert]

Right?

[Liz Levin]

We didn't get the whole thing.

Ok, what didn't we get?

What didn't we get? We didn't get the part where you're moving from seat to seat in the audience. But we didn't.

Why didn't we get that?

The truth is.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, the truth.

[Liz Levin]

OK. Because you were 27 minutes late. So we had. We had. We had. It's true. We had an hour. We had one hour. This is all very real.

This is what we do in meetings. I eat while she talks.

Or you watch videos of, you know, Maria Bamford or tell stories about the Hobbit. Okay, so.

Okay, but wait.

So we shot.

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We were supposed.

[Liz Levin]

I was late.

You were very late. So we were supposed to shoot from one.

Wait a second.

Is 27 minutes late when it's an hour total? Yes. For four relatively complicated locations. There were seven or eight actors. A live chicken.

Am I often late?

You're always late.

Am I often late?

Absolutely. Every single time have I.

We like for airplanes and trains and stuff like that.

Oh, every single flight we've ever taken. Every train we've ever.

And we've made it. We've always made it.

No, we have not always made it.

When did we not make it? When did we not make it to a train?

We were going to Washington.

This is all true.

[Stephen Colbert]

By the way.

[Liz Levin]

How long have I known you?

10 years.

10 years. Okay.

Yeah.

When did I miss a train?

It was like 2007. Ish. We were going to DC to do a BCAT.

Better know a district.

Better know district. And we missed. It was before they started having 9:00. A sell is from New York to Washington. So we were trying to get an 8 o'clock. We missed that. We had to take the regional. And I remember because you left your wallet on the train.

Ok. Ok. All right. So do you have any more questions?

Yes.

You have 30 seconds.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay, fine.

[Liz Levin]

Are you okay with doing the last setup for the ritual shooting live day of, at the beginning of rehearsal, and then we'll just pop it in. I can't get it for you by the end of rehearsal.

Is that just the thing in the audience?

Yeah, I'll do that.

[Stephen Colbert]

I'll do that day of.

[Liz Levin]

Yeah, then you won't have to change your wardrobe. It'll be fine. The same thing. So do I have any more time?

Same suit. Same suit.

Yeah, same suit. That's why I want to do it same day, so you don't have to.

It fits me better now than when.

[Stephen Colbert]

We first started shooting.

[Liz Levin]

Okay. Perfect.

[Becca]

Perfect.

[Liz Levin]

Anything else? Yeah, I have other stuff.

No, go on.

You're running out of time here. Ok. Are you open to doing?

[Stephen Colbert]

And you're out of time.

[Liz Levin]

Ok. Perfect.

Actual meeting. Thank you very much, Liz Levin, everybody.

[Stephen Colbert]

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.