Stephen Colbert is hosting the Emmys this Sunday, and was interviewed by fellow talk show host Jimmy Kimmel to advertise the event. Through the course of the interview, the two late night comedy hosts took turns taking jabs at the Trump administration, and each other.
Introducing Colbert, Kimmel asked the audience, “How exciting for America to see two talk show titans side by side?” To which Colbert responded sarcastically, “You rarely see two middle-aged men talking on television anymore.”
Just one day prior, Kimmel has hosted Trump’s former Communications Director, Sean Spicer, and the two took time to comment on the occasion. “That was a great interview,” Kimmel prompted Colbert. I’ve always wanted to talk to that cat.”
Colbert asked his host how Spicer, a notoriously short person, looked in person. Kimmel responded that Sean Spicer very small, and that he actually felt sorry for Spicer. Colbert retorted, “Really? Because he wasn’t apologizing. He wants to be forgiven, but he won’t regret anything he did. You’ve got to regret to be forgiven.”
Kimmel asked Colbert, “What if he’s privately regretting it but too scared to publicly regret it because there’s a big orange bully that might hit him over the head?” Upon which Colbert replied, “Then we privately forgive him.”
In the past, Kimmel has successfully hosted both the Oscars and Emmys, and imparted some wisdom on Colbert. He noted that most celebrities in the audience have an idea that they might have to appear on the talk show of the host at some point later down the road. Therefore, if a talk show host is presiding over the awards show, celebrities tend to behave for fear of humiliating “punishment” on that talk show later in the future.
Colbert responded saying that, under the same logic you could do one better, “You could be president of the United States!”