In between his Colbert Report and Late Show gigs, Stephen Colbert has made a surprising guest appearance: on public access TV in Monroe, Michigan.
He filled in for the regular hosts of Only In Monroe and let viewers in on some apocryphal facts about the county.
Colbert interviewed regular hosts Michelle Baumann and Kaye Lani Rafko Wilson, covering Rafko Wilson’s time as Miss America and questioning Baumann’s claim that she could paint her nails in 45 seconds (she managed it).
He then forensically raked through a dispute between online commenter Mark M and local eatery Jerry’s Steakhouse.
The real coup, however, came when Eminem (introduced as Marshall Mathers, “a local Michigander who is making a name for himself in the world of music”) appeared on set and was quizzed by Colbert about his knowledge of Bob Seger songs and was asked whether his brand of rap was more “political or booty rhymes”.
They also discussed the rapper’s retirement plan before Eminem talked about his new boxing film Southpaw, as Colbert rekindled a form of his blowhard rightwing persona that made him such a hit on Comedy Central.
Sitting somewhere between the bizarro madness of the Eric Andre show and Zach Galifianakis’s awkward pow-wow Between Two Ferns, it was a welcome check-in with the host, who has kept a low profile in the lead-up to replacing David Letterman.
