Watch Jon Stewart, ‘Daily Show’ Correspondents Reunite on ‘Colbert’
Stephen Colbert held a miniature Daily Show reunion on Tuesday’s Late Show. Former Daily Show host John Stewart joined alumni correspondents John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Ed Helms and Rob Corddry to exchange hilarious memories from the satirical news show.
“This arrangement we have right now is exactly something we would have made fun of on The Daily Show – because it looks like a morning show right now,” Colbert cracked. He noted that he started at the Daily Show in 1997, two years before Stewart became host. At a press conference announcing the hire, Colbert mock-heckled Stewart from the crowd, asking him, “Now that you’ve been announced as the host of The Daily Show, how does that impact my chances of becoming host of The Daily Show?”
Colbert also cut to clips from early field pieces, including Helms getting a mole removed, Corddry dressing up in a leotard to cover the Spider-Man craze, Oliver tripping at a Civil War reenactment and Bee learning about gay penguins.
Bee said she was often afraid of physical confrontation during the more absurd field pieces. “I would spend days with the worst homophobes, and sometimes the worst people you could possibly imagine, and you have to get them to engage in this big sketch that you’ve done,” she said. “You’ve taken three airplanes to get there, and you need them to give you some content, and you have to be nice to them all day.” The Full Frontal host recalled traveling to Florida to interview a “homonausic” man who was running for local office.
In one of the interview’s funniest moments, Stewart gazed at the stage full of youthful-looking comic talents and lamented his own appearance. “Why has age ravaged me?” he asked. “You were the ones out in the field. I’m in a studio surrounded by craft services, yet in a Benjamin Button scenario, I’m at the beginning of the movie, and you all seem fine. I find this very peculiar … This really does look like a group of students coming back to see Mr. Holland.”
Colbert ended the segment thanking Stewart for his crucial experience on The Daily Show. “I wouldn’t have this gig or any gig if it hadn’t been for this man,” he said, pointing to Stewart.
Watch the second part of the reunion clip below.