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The Late Show’s STEPHEN COLBERT on finding joy (and sanity) while poking fun at politics

- Laura Brown

The offices of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert resemble the inside of a goldfish tank, the goldfish being young staffers who dart in and out of elevators holding everything from ancient DVDs to bagged lunches. They have an eager gleam to them, as if they’ve won some sort of prize to get in the door. An airy interior stairwell—next to a Lord of the Rings pinball machine—leads to Colbert’s office.

A visibly tired Colbert opens the door and asks his assistant for a coffee. “I’ll be all right after this,” he says genially, in the manner of someone who can reach zero to 60 with only fumes in the tank. His desk is full of tchotchkes, from a “Stephen Colbert”–engraved dog bone to a bright green plastic football. Behind the desk and a computer that constantly pings with email is a record player. “You’ll love this,” he says, placing the needle on a Sufjan Stevens album. “This is so good to sleep to.”

Earlier this summer Colbert and his team embarked on a secret trip to Russia (that even some CBS executives were not aware of), and this is their first week back. The idea to shoot episodes in Russia had come from his staff after the presidential election, but Colbert admits it took him some time to get his head around it. “I was like, ‘Yeah, I don’t want to do that. I really don’t wanna do that.’ They’re like, ‘Why?’” He explains, “There’s enough pressure with these jobs. You know, I kind of like doing theater, doing my monologue, talking with guests, going home, having an old-fashioned, eating some cashews, and watching Anderson Cooper with my wife.”