Stephen Colbert thinks it’s possible CBS could have “saved his life” by firing him.
Without CBS unceremoniously ousting him from The Late Show, Colbert said he’s not sure when he would’ve departed on his own. “You can’t do this forever. You have to think about it, ‘Well, when is the right time to end your tenure?’ I didn’t think this soon,” Colbert, 62, told People on Tuesday.
“Who knows? Maybe CBS saved my life,” he said, “because it takes a lot of bone marrow to do the show every day.”
“Now I’ll be stepping down with enough time and enough energy to do other things that I want to do,” he continued. “The show is like a flaming toboggan ride every day, and the trick is to not hit any trees on your way down the mountain before 12:30.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert, who’s been open about his struggles with anxiety, revealed that he had initially been very hesitant to accept The Late Show gig and underwent four months of therapy before accepting it.
“When I got this, at first it was like, ‘No, I can’t go do that job. I’m not a stand-up. I’ve never been myself,’” he recalled thinking, after playing a satirical version of himself for nine years on The Colbert Report. He ultimately decided to tell his sister about the offer, and her reaction to the news became the “deciding factor.”
“She just burst into a huge smile,” he said. “Her happiness for me getting the gig is the thing that really sealed it for me,” he said.
Whereas Colbert ended The Colbert Report on a date of his choosing in 2014, CBS announced The Late Show‘s cancellation in July, just days after he publicly decried their “big fat bribe” $16.5 settlement with President Trump.
When he thought about ending The Colbert Report in 2014, “it all came” to him in one sitting, he said, but he couldn’t say the same for The Late Show. “This time wasn’t my choice, wasn’t my date. I think that’s why it didn’t come all at once.”
“And one or two elements came to me like, ‘What about this? What about that?’ And then we’ve had meetings over the last few months,” he said. “Recently it all just gelled. It’s not written, but I know what I want to have happen. And luckily it looks like it’s going to.”
CBS has revealed some details about The Late Show‘s upcoming episodes, while leaving room for audience surprises. Upcoming appearances include interviews with Jon Stewart and Steven Spielberg and performances by Bruce Springsteen and The Talking Heads’ David Byrne, whom Colbert himself is reported to be performing alongside.
Previously, Colbert invited back some of his most iconic guests, including former president Barack Obama, all four of his fellow network late-night hosts and his predecessor, David Letterman, 79, who shredded the network on his behalf.
Colbert has “every right to be p---ed off,” Letterman said during his Late Show appearance, and added, “You can take a man’s show, you can’t take a man’s voice.”
With three episodes remaining, Colbert is focused on finishing strong, but also reflecting on what he’ll miss most.
“I love going out there and talking about the things that were confusing or anxiety-inducing or enraging or just baffling or silly. God, whenever it can be just silly, that’s the best. Fewer and far between these days,” said the host, who’s made a habit of taking Trump to task.
Though the host has kept many of his post-Late Show plans under wraps, he announced that he is writing a script for an upcoming Lord of the Rings film.
Immediately after wrapping his final show, he will attend his brother’s wedding and his son’s graduation. “The next day, focus is not on me, focus is on my brother. So much better,” he said. “We’ll get drunk, and we’ll sing on the dance floor. It’ll be great.”
Until then, Colbert said he’s “running fast” toward the show’s May 21 finish line. “There’s so much to think about every day to do the show that I do actually don’t have that much time to think about the show ending,” he said.
“So we’re just going to run as fast as we can right through the tape or right into the brick wall.”
