Stephen Colbert introduced his first Friday guest with descriptive terms like “icon of American cinema,” “a grandmaster of late-night,” and “a singular character,” because what else are you going to say about Jeff Goldblum, really? Goldblum wasn’t on The Late Show to promote anything—he does have a new-ish album of his piano jazz noodling—but just to be Jeff Goldblum, something Colbert marveled at, proclaiming, “I don’t know of anyone who could possibly enjoy being Jeff Goldblum as much as you.” (“Yeah, I like it fine,” Goldblum deadpanned.)
Noting that the last time Goldblum was on The Late Show was—pause for dramatic emphasis—the live show of November 8, 2016—Colbert asked the noted Hillary Clinton booster and noted not-bigot how that whole . . . experience was. “Oh, horrible, horrible, horrible—devastating,” admitted Goldblum before bucking himself and the rest of us up with an extended, rousing, verbatim quotation from George Bernard Shaw that he said inspires him to rise above and carry on. (Seriously, “selfish little clod of ailments and grievances” sums up the public discourse aptly. And the rest of it, well, just read it. Or, better yet, have Jeff Goldblum recite it for you.) After that, it was all jazz lingo, an impromptu duet with bandleader Jon Batiste, tales about Buckaroo Banzai pal and hep cat Peter Weller, speculation about who should play him in the inevitable The Jeff Goldblum Story biopic (Tilda Swinton is the obvious frontrunner), and just Goldblum being Goldblum. You’re welcome.
27 Comments
Homosexuality is a mental disorder.
Based on one 90s SNL sketch I saw , the answer to both “who can enjoy being Jeff Goldblum ,more than Jeff Goldblum?” and “Who would play him in the Jeff Goldblum story?” is actually David Ducovney.
Goldblum goes on record saying he liked that skit in this GQ article from 2017: https://www.gq.com/story/jeff-goldblum-the-oral-history
That was lovely.
I have always enjoyed his rapport with Conan. I’ve enjoyed him less in movies than as a talkshow guest. Is being a talkshow guest a recognizable talent? I’d say that Jeff is one of all time greats – I’ll watch him anytime I see him on a talk show. I’d even watch him on Cordon’s show.
Is being a talkshow guest a recognizable talent?Well it definitely used to be. Jack Paar and Johnny Carson — probably Steve Allen too, but that’s before my time — had a roster of interesting guests they’d use as filler when needed. They were used because they were entertaining in and of themselves, and that was pretty much their main talent.
Charles Grodin, before he got his own talk show, was perfect for this, in small doses as a talk show guest.
Absolutely. Loved him on Carson and Letterman.
I recall Tony Randall pinch-hitting often when The Tonite Show (Carson) was in NYC…Always pleasant and willing to chat.
Well that’s going back a ways. I also remember when Carson was still in New York and he’d make his annual pilgrimage to LA. The caliber of the guests definitely changed when he permanently moved to LA.
David Letterman had Teri Garr on constantly and she was consistently amazing, just being her.
He later did that with Amy Sedaris in the last decade of his show.
I’d even watch him on Cordon’s show.Woah, woah, woah… let’s not go crazy here.
I overstepped my bounds.
Not so much these days, but back in the 70s, 80s, and 90s they were tons of professional talk show guests. Paul Lynde and Jonathan Winters spring to mind.
Norm MacDonald is probably most loved for his talk show appearances
If you haven’t already, I highly recommend seeing Goldblum’s Hot Ones interview. One of my favorite.
Thanks for giving me the heads-up on this. I’ve recently been on a tear of watching Goldblum’s movies, shows, etc. and ruing the fact that I couldn’t make it to the concerts he did in Chicago last night. Since my odd hours mean I can’t watch Colbert live, and my family’s support of Trump (not shared by me) makes On Demand catchup risky, I didn’t know about this interview until now.
So, that is low key crazy in my book. Your family would freak if you watch something non pornographic on demand even though they know your views?
Well, they wouldn’t freak, but they’d chew me out a bit. They don’t think my views are the right ones.
The first time I remember Goldblum was in the series ‘Teenspeed and Brown Shoe’ back in 1980 playing opposite Ben Vereen, He apparently had a small part in Annie Hall all the way back in 1977 – Oh, wait! I actually remember him in a scene! The Hollywood party scene. That is a long freakin’ career.
He was great in his episode of Hot Ones.
“Whenever you interview fat people, you feel bad, because you know you’re not going to hire them.”-James Watson, 2000“I grew up with that, where the Irish were, you know, not a serious people — blarney, full of blarney. You can be real dumb or you can seem dumb because you don’t know anything — that’s all I’m saying. The Irish seemed dumb because they didn’t know anything.”-James Watson, 2003“(I am) inherently gloomy about the prospect of Africa because all our social policies are based on the fact that their intelligence is the same as ours – where all the testing says not really.”“There’s a difference on the average between blacks and whites on IQ tests. I would say the difference is, it’s genetic.”-James Watson, 2007
I always through David Duchovny should play Goldbum in the biopic.“Well, uh, this is … Jeopardy. Um, seeing as there are, um, one two three-four-five-six, ah, seven … seven different categories, I would …”
Bonus; Goldblum duets ‘Me and My Shadown” with Sarah Silverman on the album.
The whole thing is really quite good.