Stephen Sondheim on The Colbert Report

[PalJoey]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 10:53am

I haven't been this exited since Bette Davis appeared on the Dick Cavett Show.


Stephen Sondheim to Appear on The Colbert Report 12/14

[NYadgal]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 10:59am

Fantastic!

(wonders if there are tickets available?...)

[ClapYo'Hands]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:32am

Dammit, they don't show this in the UK. Hoping it will be up on Youtube.

[madbrian]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 11:47am

"wonders if there are tickets available?..."

I've been to a taping of Colbert; tickets would be long gone by now. However, I think they have a cancellation/no show line, but I don't know how it works.

[Ariella]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 12:09pm

Woot. Stephen & Stephen will be the best

[Katurian2]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 12:21pm

Yeah, they do have a cancellation line. I've actually done it before and gotten in. Depending on the season/weather, you have a decent chance. There's just two lines outside the studio- one w/tix and one w/cancellation. Plus side is that if you wait in the cancellation line, you get a pass to jump to the front of the tickets line and get in on another date.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 4:20pm

This sounds even more exciting/interesting than Elaine Stritch on the Wendy Williams Show.

[Taryn]

Posted: 12/12/10 at 6:30pm

As of right now, it looks like there are actually tickets available (http://www.colbertnation.com/tickets). I am sitting here kicking the world for putting Ben Folds' show I have tickets to on the same night.

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 12/13/10 at 12:40pm

There's still one ticket available for tomorrow.

http://www.colbertnation.com/tickets


(If you follow DailyTix on Twitter, they let you know when tickets are available)

[givesmevoice]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 7:46am

Bumping because there are still (as of 7:45 this morning) 25 tickets for today's taping.

[Paul Bland4]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 3:42pm

Oh, I'll watch, but after Colbert sleepwalked through the Taymor interview, I don't have high hopes for the interview with Sondheim. Colbert seems to be more interested in making lame jokes that somehow remotely relate to his interviewees than in asking interesting questions or something of that sort.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 4:09pm

You were hoping he would have asked her if she agrees with the misogynist hysteria she engenders on BWW?

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 12/14/10 at 11:28pm

I was at the taping today. The Sondheim bit was really funny, and you could tell that Stephen had a lot of respect for him. He spent a lot of time before the show and during gushing about Sondheim. I'd have liked to see a longer interview of Sondheim, but that is the pitfall of these 30 minute comedy talkshows. Still, pretty fun to watch and it was amazing to be sitting in front of a living legend.

[thetinymagic2]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:01am

Me neither, PJ!!
It just finished up. The best 5 minute interview of STEVE, EVER!!
I just love Steve's nervous tics.
Updated On: 12/15/10 at 12:01 AM

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:03am

Frankly, I found Colbert annoying and not particularly respectful. Sondheim handled the "interview" well but I think he deserves better than to be treated as essentially Colbert's straight man. Just not to my taste at all.

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:07am

I can't wait for more people who never watch the show to get their knickers in a twist over how the show is executed!

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:10am

What have all the other national television interviews Sondheim has given for this book been like?

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:11am

I didn't find him disrespectful. I was in the audience also and during the pre-show Q & A, a woman asked Colbert what his favorite Sondheim show is and he said "Sunday." He then noted that Sondheim would be a guest that night and that he hoped we knew how special that was, that we would basically be seeing Shakespeare.

[JudasIscariot]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:21am

Also during the interview, Colbert asked Sondheim why he doesn't write more show abouts cats. Sondheim launched into a story about Mandy Patinkin auditioning for Sunday and having three different big dogs and three different little dogs prepared, so they basically had six different dogs to choose from that he could play.

And people, Colbert is a character.
Updated On: 12/15/10 at 12:21 AM

[wonkit]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:22am

Optimist - the national TV audience didn't see the pre-show Q&A, so any nice things that Colbert said then did not mitigate the impact of seeing him hogging the air time he had with Sondheim. Look, I "get" Colbert, I "get" the persona, but I would have enjoyed hearing Sondheim's voice a little more often during the segment. Sondheim is clearly able to take care of himself, and was a good sport. I suppose I expected so much more than I saw.

[CockeyedOptimist2]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:23am

I know that most people didn't see the Q&A, I just wanted to note that Colbert clearly respects Sondheim a great deal, no matter how you thought the interview came off.

[orangeskittles]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:27am

Phyllis, I was thinking that too.

I loved it. And it's so relieving to finally see an interview where Sondheim is treated as a human instead of a visiting deity. HE has a sense of humor, even if some of his fans don't.

[adamgreer]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 12:38am

This isn't the Charlie Rose Show. It's the Colbert Report. I'm really curious what some people were expecting. Did you honestly think Colbert was going to stop being himself because Sondheim was there?

[Phyllis Rogers Stone]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 2:25am

He did break character to interview a band once, but I can't remember who it was. It certainly wasn't someone with the gravitas of a Stephen Sondheim!

I could tell Colbert respected Sondheim from the interview itself, but I've actually seen the show before and don't expect it conform to my very narrow worldview just because I - someone who is a fan of the theatre - deigned to watch it for one evening. Or two if you were one of those people who really thought the BWW hysteria about Julie Taymor was really going register with the Colbert Report and you tuned into to see him really give that lady what for!

I mean, honestly. It's like all the characters from the movie Camp have grown up and are frequenting this thread.

[dramamama611]

Posted: 12/15/10 at 4:12am

It was fun, Sondheim had fun, no big deal.

I thought it was nice not to see a strict, intellectual few minutes with Sondheim.


It's Colbert -- really what did people expect????