Stephen Colbert Went Off-Script To Thank His Stage Manager For Hiding His Darkest Moment On The Late Show

Summary

• Stephen Colbert faced a dark moment during an episode with chef José Andrés, feeling like he was dying on live TV.
• Colbert's stage manager and wife Evie played crucial roles in helping him through this difficult time, distracting the audience and insisting he go to the hospital.
• Despite the struggle, Colbert was able to find humor in the situation, joking about losing weight from his appendix and thanking his support system.

Since he took over on The Late Show, fans have witnessed the ups and downs of Stephen Colbert. The ups included his interview with David Letterman, while the downs featured a nightmare interview with Bill Burr.

However, Colbert revealed his worst moment ever. Although fans witnessed it, they really didn't realize the severity of it all. In the following, we are going to take a look back at Stephen's darkest moment, and how his stage manager helped his cause during commercial breaks. In addition, we will take a look at how Colbert's wife factored in, and helped him during his worst Late Show moment ever.

Thankfully, Colbert was able to speak freely about the incident a few months ago.

Stephen Colbert Thanked His Stage Manager For Distracting The Audience While Memorizing His Script On Commercial Breaks Following His Ruptured Appendix

Stephen Colbert literally went from the highest of highs to the lowest of lows in a matter of hours. At the time, Colbert was fresh off interviewing David Letterman, perhaps his most important interview ever. Once the show came to an end and Stephen arrived home, he suddenly started to feel ill.

Colbert felt as though he could recover by sleep. However, the problem only worsened. The ultimate low came during an off-camera dance with chef José Andrés. Colbert admits he literally felt like dying during that portion of their interview.

Upon his return, Colbert had a lot of people to thank, and one of them was his stage manager, who saw Colbert and his very worst, but did his best to distract fans.

Colbert reveals, "I want to thank the people on this show who truly went beyond the call of duty to get me through that taping. My stage manager literally stood between me and the audience so I could weep into my script during commercial breaks."

The moment can be watched below around the 6:50 mark.

Colbert's Late Show band also confirmed the struggle the host was going through without fans noticing. "I knew something was wrong when the first time in almost nine years you had to rehearse the monologue sitting down with a barf bucket next to you."

Colbert laughed, "I had forgotten about that detail."

As expected, Colbert also poked some fun at himself, stating that the struggle helped him to lose some extra pounds.

• “They’re too many to name. You know who you are, and I’ll never forget it. To everyone who did not reach out: I know who you are, and I’ll never forget it,” he joked.
• “And you might be surprised, at the end here, I’d like to thank my appendix because you giving me blood poisoning helped me lose 14 pounds. Ladies, gentlemen, you heard it here first. Appendicitis is the new Ozempic.”

The host was able to get through the moment, and it was all because of his support system.

Fans Also Had Plenty Of Praise For Evie's Involvement During Stephen Colbert's Darkest Moment

The story of Stephen Colbert’s Ruptured Appendix has over 1.4 million views on YouTube, with a near 3K comments from fans. The most liked comments appear to be similar, and they all credit Colbert's wife Evie for supporting her husband during a tough moment.

She was a major reason as to why Colbert checked into the hospital to begin with. After Colbert's driver knew something was off, he phoned Evie, who convinced Stephen he needed to go to the hospital. The moment likely saved his life.

Fans were full of praise for Evie:

• "Can we all just state for the record how much we all love Evie. We’re very happy that you’re still with us Stephen Colbert."
• "He's not hallucinating, he's always like that." Evie gets the best line in this episode."
• "That was a close call! Evie and Pablo saved your life that night. I'm really happy you're still here with us and glad to see you so well recovered. Take care Mr. Colbert."
• "I cannot imagine what Evie was going through, but so glad she insisted and colluded with Pablo to get him to the hospital. That must be scary as hell for a spouse to see their partner in a situation like that. Stephen always makes sure she gets plenty of love from the audience, but she deserves even more! I can just see Stephen reciting poetry to the doctors, and Evie reassuring them how he doesn't need drugs to do that; he does that naturally. Love you, Mr. Colbert!! Live long and prosper!"

Certainly a Late Show moment fans and Stephen Colbert won't forget.

Stephen Colbert also credits his wife for saving him during a battle with anxiety.

Stephen Colbert Had Other Dark And Unexpected Late Show Moments

Stephen Colbert had other off-script moments that were quite emotional for the host. In one instance, The Late Show came to an abrupt end after Stephen kept things brief during his outro. All he said was, "That's it for the Late Show."

It was later revealed that Colbert's emotional send-off was due to the passing of his assistant, Amy Cole.

Fans in attendance were expecting Matt Damon on the episode, but that moment never came and cameras stopped rolling abruptly. Audience members admit it was a somber finish to the show.

A fan documented their live experience on Reddit:

• "Stephen says to the staff that he wants to do the outro and say goodbye. The stage manager signals us to applause, we start clapping again but Stephen says he wants the outro with no applause. The vibe shifts and gets very serious and sad. Everyone stops clapping, and Steven gives a very sad "goodnight". It looks and sounds like he is either crying or about to cry. He walks off stage in silence, talks to someone on the staff for a second then goes out a side door."

Here's to hoping these moments are not a norm in the future.