Donald Trump on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is guaranteed to be awkward

By Stephanie Topacio Long Published September 10, 2015

It was only a matter of time: Donald Trump has accepted Stephen Colbert’s invitation to appear on The Late Show. When the two sit down together on Tuesday, Sept. 22, it’s bound to be a strange conversation. Given that Trump doesn’t have a history of responding well to criticism and Colbert dedicated a segment of his inaugural episode to ridiculous Trump storylines (and an Oreo binge), it’s fair to say that things could get uncomfortable.

While stuffing his face with cookies on the Sept. 8 show, Colbert made light of everything from Trump’s comments about building a wall between the U.S. and Mexico to his appearance. He did exercise restraint for at least a moment, though, calling Trump “the most whatever-it-is of all time,” rather than inserting a more telling noun. It’ll be interesting to see how Colbert handles having the wildly controversial politician in front of him. Will the Late Show host be as friendly to Trump as he was to Jeb Bush, or will he return to the tactics he used with guests on The Colbert Report?

Recommended Videos

Colbert’s interview with Bush was tame, and the two treated each other politely. Of course, Trump hasn’t always been known to play nice; he’s responded aggressively to political commentators on more than one occasion (just ask Megyn Kelly). Plus, he’s likely seen the clip of Colbert mocking him and may be feeling defensive coming into the interview.

Just what convinced Trump to appear on the show is unclear. Perhaps he wanted a chance to respond to the host, or maybe he was swayed by the premiere’s impressive ratings. After all, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert averaged 6.55 million viewers on its first night, which was substantially more than its competition from The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live. There was a drop in viewership for the second episode, but 3.657 million people still tuned in.

Before his appearance on The Late Show, Trump has an interview on the The Tonight Show scheduled for Sept. 11. Meanwhile, Colbert will be interviewing several other political figures, including presidential hopefuls Sen. Bernie Sanders on Sept. 18 and Sen. Ted Cruz on Sept. 21.

Topics

Stephanie Topacio Long

Former Digital Trends Contributor

Stephanie Topacio Long is a writer and editor whose writing interests range from business to books. She also contributes to…

Entertainment

Sydney Sweeney will star in the Split Fiction movie

Sydney Sweeney in Anyone But You.

Earlier this week, Sydney Sweeney signed on to produce the adaptation of Sega's OutRun video game with Michael Bay set to direct. Now, Sweeney has reportedly joined another video game adaptation as both a producer and a star.

According to Variety, Sweeney has joined the cast of Split Fiction, the hit video game that was released just under two months ago. The game's story focuses on an aspiring sci-fi writer Mio Hudson and a fantasy writer named Zoe Foster, both of whom are invited to take part in an experimental simulation demonstration. When Mio is accidentally thrust into Zoe's simulation, both women are trapped in the simulation that draws upon the stories from their minds. And they have to work together to find a way out. Variety's story doesn't specify which character Sweeney will play, but there's room for another prominent actress on top of the call sheet beside her.

Entertainment

5 movies leaving Hulu in April 2025 you have to watch

Rebecca Hall in Resurrection.

The title of this recurring post was conceived when Hulu regularly cycled out big movie titles at the end of the month. Lately, Hulu hasn't been saving the good stuff for the 30th, and there's only a single movie leaving at the end of April that we can recommend.

Resurrection, a 2022 psychological thriller starring Rebecca Hall is the film in question. That movie is leaving on April 27, and that leaves four more films to fill out a list of five. So as we've done for the last several months, we've had to skip ahead to the next month to find additional movies on their way out of Hulu that are worthy of being watched.

Entertainment

NBC is planning a reboot of USA’s Royal Pains

Mark Feuerstein in promo art for Royal Pains.

Earlier this year, NBC debuted Suits: L.A., a revival of the hit USA Network series Suits that became an even bigger blockbuster on Netflix. Now, NBC is looking to revive another USA series, Royal Pains, with the show's original star Mark Feuerstein slated to return.

Royal Pains debuted on USA in 2009 and featured Feuerstein as Henry “Hank” Lawson, a former ER doctor in New York who unjustly lost his job. After moving to the Hamptons with his brother, Hank was recruited to run his own concierge medical practice for the rich and powerful. However, he also established a free clinic for people who couldn't afford the health care that they needed. The show ran for eight seasons before concluding in 2016.