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Stephen Colbert appeared on TV on Friday much ashe does five nights a week muggingon The Late Show, cracking pre-written jokes about the latest President Trump spectacle.

I hear when he returns theres a chance hell still be president, Colbert quipped in his monologue.

But the next night, a weekend,hewalked into a roomwith a much smalleraudience and no broadcast schedule and described the professional and emotional exhaustion of trying to performnightly comedy inthe chaos of the Trump era.

Its all so petty and venal, and theres nothing grand about it, he saidin his appearance atthe Vulture Festival a one-on-one conversation before a live crowd ofa few hundred people. Its not Shakespearean at all. Its Veep.

Led through the interviewbyFrank Rich, an executiveproducer of Veep, Colbert recalledthe night of the election as someofthe most bizarre live television Ive ever been a part of.

Election night

Like much of the country, Colbert said, he, his writers and producers had expected Hillary Clinton to win. Theyd gone into a live special on Showtime with a slew of pre-recorded sketches at the ready.

Great stuff, Colbert said: like 20 naked men with Clintons campaign slogan written on their buttocks Were with her.

Instead, as the Hollywood Reporter noted, the audience grew nervouseven before Colbert took the stage, as early election results hinted atTrumps victory. What are you, fing dead inside? an exasperated warm-up comic asked the crowd.

About 20 minutes into the show, Colbert recalled, he hadan off-screen conversation witha producer.

No more jokes, the producer said. Stop with the jokes.

The rest of the night was interruptedby sobs from the crowdand humorless conversations with guests, Colbert recalled in frontof an audience full of Chilean villagers who just pulled into the soccer stadium to see their friends and neighbors executed by the junta. Thats what it felt like.

The last 10 minutes was me making s t up and trying to get to a joke about What do we do now? he said.

Before he wrapped up the night, he said, he observed toa colleague: Weve got our emotional skegs in the water now, and we cant ever take them out again.

The day after election night

That was a Tuesday. They had jokes to write the next morning.

We came to work weak-kneed and watery boweled, and really afraid for the country, Colbert recalled.

He gathered his staffand they briefly reflected on the path ahead.

One of his writers remarked: It felt like people who felt the culture had treated them cruelly decided to respond with cruelty in return by electing this person.

The comedian recalled trying to buck uphis show runners: Well youre forever wondering whether your work has purpose. Dont worry anymore. It does. Because this is terrible. And your job is to make people feel better about it every day.

This heart-to-heartlasted about half an hour, Colbert said. Then we went, okay, thats it. Jokes.

Late-night comedy hosts worked through their disbelief at the outcome of the presidential election by poking fun at President-elect Donald Trump. (The Washington Post)

Country on fire

Since then, thevolatile administration has provided no end of monologues material, and helped boost The Late Show to No. 1 in late-night ratings.

At the Vulture Festival, Rich asked Colbert if a small part of him was secretly glad Trump won.

No, Colbertreplied. We dont approach DonaldTrump as, like, What a wonderful, cheesy gravy meal we have for you today.

He described the country, under Trump, as on fire. The comedian, in this analogy,was a guy who dances next to the fire and says, Lets all admit this is on fire.

It was difficultto keep his balance, Colbert said. He told Rich hed falleninto the flames once: When he called Trump Vladmir Putins c holster this month and ignited a movement to take him off the air.

Keeping up with the latest Trump crisis

But makingThe Late Show hasbecome difficult simply as a matter of logistics, Colbert said.

He described a typical production day: finishing a script at 5 p.m. and sending it off for review, only for the latest Trump crisis to force a rewriteat 5:15.

Or even during taping, as Colbertsaid happened three times thismonth.

Id finished a monologue, he recalled. It went pretty well. It was little overstuffed. I go over to John and he goes: Okay. Were two minutes long and Trump just fired Comey.

So Colbert informed his studio audience that FBI Director James B. Comey had been terminated, he said, and gave his writers 10minutes to write a new bit.

It was another mixture of humor and emotion.

My heart is thumping, my heart is racing, Colbert said in his new monologue that night. A picture of Attorney General Jeff Sessions flashed on the screen. I think he was fired because he couldnt guess the name of Rumpelstiltskin.

Behind-the-scenes gossip

On Saturday, Colbert shareda bit of behind-the-scenes gossip from past interviews like when, he said, Ted Cruz asked him to humanize me.

I said, Dont go to the stump speech and you will be a human being, Colbert recalled. He said, Thats hard. I said, So is being human.

Not many Republicans have agreed to come on since the election, he said. Theyre a little gun shy.

Pissing into the wind

Trump himself hasnt appeared as president, of course, although he did call the comedian a no talent guy in a Time magazine interview this month to Colberts evident delight.

He recalled being informed in a phone call of whatthe president hadsaid and being surprised it took him so long.

Hell attack anyone who talks back about him, Colbert said.

He will not submit himself to any measurement, because any measurement is false. Only his victory only his golden chariot is the only possible depiction of him that is available. And so you know youre pissing into the wind when you do criticism of him, so you have to let that go.

He was just a comedian, he said over and over on Saturday shouting into an Altoid tin and throwing it off an overpass every day.

But at the veryleast, he said, he and his writers had learnedto keep up with the chaos since Election Day.

That feels stable from our end, he said. It doesnt feel so stable as a society.

Zachary Pincus-Roth in New York contributed to this report.

More reading:

Stephen Colberts anti-Trump experiment is starting to work

Colbert finally (and unapologetically) responds to #FireColbert backlash: I would do it again

Stephen Colbert gleefully responds to President Trump calling him a no-talent guy

Originally posted here:
What Stephen Colbert really thinks about Donald Trump - Washington Post