Watch Stephen Colbert's competitors and late-night peers offer their not-quite-best advice


Tuesday was Stephen Colbert's first turn as host of CBS's Late Show, the newest (and oldest) face in an increasingly crowded late-night television landscape. Before the show aired, Vanity Fair spoke with most of Colbert's direct competitors — Jimmy Kimmel, Conan O'Brien, Larry Wilmore, and future rival Trevor Noah — as well as John Oliver, Seth Meyers, Bill Maher, and James Corden, to see if they had any advice for the newbie.
They did, and since they're comedians, it's mostly funny. Since they're competitors, some of it is self-serving. Colbert is apparently watching the advice on an iPad, and his answers tie the whole short video together. There's one glaring absence — Jimmy Fallon, Colbert's most direct rival — but Fallon appeared on Colbert's Late Show debut, so things appear to be friendly between them. You can watch the advice-giving below, but be warned: Wilmore drops an F-bomb, and Conan seems really intent on selling you waterfront property. Peter Weber
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclub
Speed Read The colorful crosswalk was outside the former LGBTQ nightclub where 49 people were killed in a 2016 shooting
-
Trump says Smithsonian too focused on slavery's ills
Speed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, Stallone
Speed Read Actor Sylvester Stallone and the glam-rock band Kiss were among those named as this year's inductees
-
White House seeks to bend Smithsonian to Trump's view
Speed Read The Smithsonian Institution's 21 museums are under review to ensure their content aligns with the president's interpretation of American history
-
Charlamagne Tha God irks Trump with Epstein talk
Speed Read The radio host said the Jeffrey Epstein scandal could help 'traditional conservatives' take back the Republican Party
-
CBS cancels Colbert's 'Late Show'
Speed Read 'The Late Show with Stephen Colbert' is ending next year
-
A long weekend in Zürich
The Week Recommends The vibrant Swiss city is far more than just a banking hub
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposes
speed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle