As Stephen Colbert prepares to make his Elsbeth debut this weekend, Carrie Preston thinks he has a bright onscreen future, despite recent events.
The Emmy-winning actress raved the late-night host is “such a great actor” after working with him on the Season 3 premiere ‘Yes, And…’, airing Sunday at 9/8c on CBS, following the shocking cancellation of The Late Show.
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“It was really serendipitous because for months and months we had been working to get these actors on the show. [Executive producer] Jonathan Tolins wrote the script specifically for Stephen Colbert,” she told Us Weekly. “Then the week before we were about to start filming, it was announced that his show was done.”
Preston admitted the team was “very nervous” working with Colbert when his meta casting as fictional late-night host Scotty Bristol was announced in early August, a couple weeks after the network announced The Late Show will end in May.
“We were concerned that he was going to be too busy dealing with that and he wouldn’t be able to come,” explained Preston. “But he came and not only did he come but he came fully prepared. He was fully game and so happy to be there.”
(L-R): Marcia DeBonis as Sheryl Jacobs and Stephen Colbert as Scotty Bristol in ‘Elsbeth’
In ‘Yes, And…’, Elsbeth (Preston) dives into the world of late-night comedy when backstage tensions rise between a talk show host (Colbert), his head writer Laurel (Sedaris) and her on-air sidekick husband, Mickey (Andy Richter). Also, Elsbeth meets a new police officer (guest star Lindsay Mendez) who is an aspiring stand-up comic when off the clock.
Colbert’s appearance in the episode is accompanied by guest stars Andy Richter in the familiar role of a late-night show sidekick, and Amy Sedaris as his wife, the show’s head writer who is seen being very cozy with the Colbert in some recent first-look images.
“He was such a great actor,” said Preston of Colbert. “He was so fun to play with and it was everything that you wanted it to be and more. I was a huge fan of Amy Sedaris for so long. I had only just met her socially once or twice. So to have her on the show, she was so funny and the crew loved her. I was basically begging her to be my friend by the end. I just think she’s fantastic.”
Preston added, “And then Andy Richter too. He’s playing a sidekick on a talk show but he was the sidekick on the talk show forever [with Late Night, The Tonight Show and Conan]. But they’re all different characters. I just thought it was really brilliant and that the timing worked out so well that they were all available to come and play with us.”
Also under the CBS umbrella, Colbert recently announced his voice role as the Digital Vice Dean in Star Trek: Starfleet Academy, premiering Jan. 15 on Paramount+.
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