For the penultimate episode of The Late Show, host Stephen Colbert answered his iconic “Colbert Questionert.” The recurring segment includes 15 questions, which were finally directed at Colbert himself.
But instead of enlisting just one person to ask the questions, Colbert brought in some of his most famous friends. Former CBS Evening News anchor John Dickerson stepped in to administer the segment, introducing each of the famous guests: Billy Crystal, “Weird Al” Yankovic, Josh Brolin, Martha Stewart, Mark Hamill, Jim Gaffigan, Jeff Daniels, Tiffany Haddish, Evie McGee Colbert, Amy Sedaris, Ben Stiller, Aubrey Plaza, James Taylor, and Robert De Niro.
Crystal kicked things off with “What is the best sandwich?” Colbert waffled a little bit in his answer, but eventually concluded, “Katz’s Deli’s hot pastrami sandwich, that’s the best sandwich.” Brolin asked “What is the scariest animal?” (a trapdoor spider) while Hamill asked if Colbert had ever asked someone else for an autograph.
“I did a bit with Steve Martin years ago, the first time I ever had him on the old show,” the host replied. “A huge fan of Steve Martin. Like he’s in my Mount Rushmore of comedy, and as part of it, we were talking about a painting and we added to the painting a little cutout of Steve’s head. It was from his headshot. And when the show was over, I said, ‘Hey, would you mind signing this?’ So he just signed across the top of his face, and I had it framed on a lovely little background and hung in my office. But I hung it, or whoever hung it, hung it where there used to be a clock in my office, and so we’re always on deadline here and that clock is just spinning around super fast, so I would just look up to see what time it was and there would be the picture. So I like to say in my office, ‘It’s always Steve Martin o’clock.’”
Colbert told Daniels that his favorite action movie is Raiders of the Lost Ark, and explained to Haddish that he prefers aisle seats over window seats on planes because he has “the bladder of a baby chipmunk.” Later, his wife Evie came out to ask for his favorite smell.
“My favorite smell is when we are going out someplace and you go upstairs to get ready first,” he told her. “And then I come up to follow you and when I get to like the top of the stairs, I know that you’ve already gotten out of the shower because I can smell that like rose lotion. And I know that you’re in there wearing very little.”
Dickerson posed the final question: “How would you describe the rest of your life in five words?” Colbert replied, “My family, my friends, fun.”
Over the year, Colbert has subjected numerous guests to the “Colbert Questionert,” including Prince Harry, Barack Obama, Keanu Reeves, Bad Bunny, Meryl Streep, Bono, and Ian McKellen. Fans can watch all of the old segments here.