Colbert interviews 'fiscal conservative' Smaug, who blames 'liberal Hollywood bias' for bad-guy casting

On last Thursday's Colbert Report, host Stephen Colbert had a very special guest on to promote the new Hobbit movie: Smaug, the very large dragon from the Lord of the Rings movies. Colbert started off with some political humor, noting that both he and the dragon are "fiscal conservatives who sleep on big piles of money." Quite right, says Smaug (voiced by Benedict Cumberbatch). "Time to return to the gold standard. Rand Paul 2016!"

Still, given all his accomplishments, Colbert asked, why is it that Smaug is cast as the bad guy in the Lord of the Rings movies. "Typical liberal Hollywood bias," the dragon says. "It's hard for conservatives to get good roles in this town. That's why Kelsey Grammar and I are always up for the same part." Then they talk about The Hobbit. It's a pretty impressive lead-up to Colbert's last week on Comedy Central, and, presumably, his last week in character. --Peter Weber

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