Comedy Central
When Stephen Colbert announced that he’d be airing his final episode of The Colbert Report on December 18, our first response was an incredible sadness, unlike any other we’d felt. Well, at least since Jennifer Lawrence started dating that guy from Coldplay. Eventually, as the sadness crept away and we accepted the silver lining of Colbert taking over The Late Show duties for David Letterman next year, we started wondering what a fitting tribute might be for the guy who has entertained us with truthiness and real American values since his show first aired on October 17, 2005. After all, the guy has been cracking most of us up for 10 seasons and what will have been 1,447 episodes, when his good friend Grimmy takes him to the other side on Thursday night.
So we thought that maybe the key to a good Colbert tribute is picking out some of our favorite moments to share with everyone. But even better than that idea was reaching out to some staffers for The Colbert Report to find out what it was like to work with the best faux-pundit in the late night game. Unfortunately, a lot of them were either unavailable or had already moved on, but we were very lucky to steal a few minute of Cece Lederer’s time, as the Writer’s Assistant for The Colbert Report was happy to share her thoughts on the show’s incredible legacy.
Not familiar with Lederer? Allow Colbert to refresh your memory…
We didn’t ask if that story was true, because we didn’t need to. Of course it’s true.
UPROXX: What were some of your favorite or funniest moments from working on The Colbert Report?
Cece Lederer: That’s a huge question [laugh]. Something that sticks out for me, not a moment but a favorite thing would be in meetings deciding what stories were going to go on the air, Stephen would say, “Remember, we’re clowns,” as opposed to news people. When it came to doing really heavy political stuff, he was always aware that we could do so much good, I think. We did a lot of stuff that I think changed the world. Ultimately the goal was to make people laugh, above anything else. Which I always really admired. It’s quite easy to get sucked into the big political outrage. And I think it takes guts to say, “No, we’re not going to do that, we’re going to do this silly story because it is funnier and it’s a comedy show!”
UPROXX: What were some things that, as you mentioned, changed the world?
Cece: I think when we went to Iraq, that’s probably a big one from when I was there. You kind of think of people who serve in the military as a statistic. Oh, it’s the soldiers, support our troops, the troops are kind of a nameless figure. And going there and putting them on TV in a comedy show reminded me, but I think to the world, Operation Iraqi Freedom was just a really unique way of putting a human face on a terrible situation.
Actually, the big one was from before I got there. When Stephen invented the word “Truthiness.” I think that’s a great addition to the English language. I think it’s the perfect world. Apart from being funny I think it describes such a real phenomenon. There’s stuff like the Super Pac, stuff that is stuck in a way, but it has an impact and creates awareness. Especially when you’re doing a show on Comedy Central, there’s a lot of people who aren’t necessarily watching the news who are watching The Colbert Report and The Daily Show. You get a chance to talk to this other demographic which I think is – it’s a powerful place to be to be the political voice of people who don’t care about politics. But I think I’m going to miss it. So I’m sorry to see it go. I think it was a powerful force for good. And I’m very proud to have been a part of it.
UPROXX: Is there a particular thing you wrote that you are most proud of? That stands out to you?
Cece: A lot of it is such a team effort. My dog was on the show once. That’s something that I always show people when they ask about my time there. There’s no one particular thing.
UPROXX: Are there things Stephen said or comments he made that stick out to you?
Cece: I think more than comments, his attitude as a producer. Just this fearless “We can do anything” energy that he has. Anything can be accomplished. Just this incredibly optimistic and passionate personality. And I think that has stuck with me more. Maybe you work on something ten times for the script and it doesn’t even make it on the air, but you’re better for it. It all goes towards making the show happen. You never felt like insurmountable goals. It was the attitude.
A lot of us do an improv show at Upright Citizen’s Brigade theatre in New York and I think that comes from the same place. I was an improviser and there were a couple other improvisers, most of the writing staff was not ever trained in improv, but there was this “Why not?”, jump in with your whole self and the product is always… if you give everything, what you get back will be worthwhile. A lot of us were not trained in improv, but we make each other laugh so let’s just go for it. Why not? There’s a huge attitude of why not.