Stephen Colbert started out his interview with billionaire tech mogul Elon Musk on Wednesday's Late Show by comparing him to Tony Stark, the fictional billionaire tech mogul who is also Iron Man, asking, "Are you really trying to save the world?" Musk said that "he's trying to do good things." Colbert pointed out that he's trying to do good things and he's a billionaire, which "seems a little bit like either superhero or supervillain —you have to choose one." Musk demurred.
But Colbert wasn't finished. They talked about Tesla, and then Colbert asked Musk why he thinks people should live on an uninhabitable planet like Mars. Well, Mars "is a fixer-upper of a planet," Musk concedes, but humans can make it into a habitable Earth-like planet, by making it warmer. There's a fast way and a slow way to do that, he added, and the fast way is to "drop thermonuclear weapons over the poles." Aha! Colbert pounced: "You're a supervillain, that's what a supervillain does." Musk doesn't disagree. Watch below. Peter Weber
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.
-
Florida erases rainbow crosswalk at Pulse nightclubSpeed 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 illsSpeed Read The president would prefer the museum to highlight 'success,' 'brightness' and 'the future'
-
Trump to host Kennedy Honors for Kiss, StalloneSpeed 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 viewSpeed 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 talkSpeed 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
-
Shakespeare not an absent spouse, study proposesspeed read A letter fragment suggests that the Shakespeares lived together all along, says scholar Matthew Steggle
-
New Mexico to investigate death of Gene Hackman, wifespeed read The Oscar-winning actor and his wife Betsy Arakawa were found dead in their home with no signs of foul play
