Stephen Colbert has a thoughtful answer to the question of who he believes is smarter: him or Jon Stewart?
“I have a better memory than Jon Stewart,” Colbert replied, answering a fan question about himself online as part of GQ’s “Actually Me” series. “I have quick recall. If I read it and I like it, I probably know it. And people mistake that for intelligence, because then you can make associations between things that you remember. And you go, ‘Wow, he really synthesized that quickly.’” He explained, “That’s not the same thing as thinking.”
“Jon Stewart’s a much clearer thinker than I am. That’s why he can reframe arguments on TV, and in very quick and very interesting ways. Because he’s doing an analysis of what’s actually happening here.”
Elsewhere in the interview, Colbert was also asked who he’s “always wanted to interview” but hasn’t. “The pope,” he answered. “I really wanted to interview Francis. Really wanted to interview Francis. He seemed like a very interesting cat.” He continued, shifting gears to the new American pope: “Daddio. Leo, come on. Chicago. Let’s hit some deep dish. We’ll go to a Sox game.”
He added, “I mean, I got nine months left. If there’s one person I could talk to… I’d even go to Rome. You know what? I would do that for him. I would even go to Rome. I hear it’s a nice place.”
After The Late Show’s contentious interactions with the Trump administration and parent company Paramount in July, the company announced Colbert and the Late Show franchise were getting the axe in May 2026, just ahead of closing its Trump-backed merger with Skydance. Another Paramount host some believed may bite the dust right along with Colbert amidst the Trump-friendly merger was Stewart, but the Daily Show host secured a one-year contract extension earlier this month.
Since Colbert announced the news that his show would end next year, he’s expressed interest in several potential next moves post-Late Show. Earlier this month, he told GQ he’s had a “whole show” planned for years around reprising his former right-wing Colbert Report persona, and that there’s a chance he’d revisit it. He’s also taken up voice acting again, voicing the “digital dean” in Paramount+’s Star Trek: Starfleet Academy.
Colbert told the magazine that, for now, he’s primarily focused on “landing this plane gracefully in a way that I find satisfying, given how much effort we’ve put into it for the last 10 years.”
