Kenan Thompson has some words for Jerry Seinfeld.
Thompson made his first appearance on “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” Monday night, and “Saturday Night Live’s” longest-running cast member made it clear that he’s got nothing but respect for the late night host. He even did some research before going on the show, including watching an old episode of Seinfeld’s interview show “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee,” and he took issue with some of Seinfeld’s comments.
“There was a moment that bothered me because he was like, [being a guest on] his show was much less stressful than your show,” Thompson said. “And to me, it diminished your dedication, sir. Because I know this job is hard. But, I think Mr. Seinfeld owes you an apology.”
Thompson then asked, “Can I talk directly to him?” And broke into a good-natured direct address to the camera — and to Seinfeld — to speak his mind.
“What’s up, Jerry? Do you know who this man is? This is Steven Tyrone Colbert. This man has 17 brothers. Do you know what that’s like? He went to Northwestern University. That’s like the Syracuse of Chicago, you know what I’m saying? He worked his way up through the business … And now the shoes of David Letterman. And he’s been doing it steadily for years. The man lost his entire stomach and buttocks, and he’s still here! I think you owe him an apology. That’s all I wanted to say, thank you very much.”
“Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee” originally premiered on Crackle in 2012, before moving to Netflix, and saw the host interviewing fellow comedians with a loose structure format. As the title suggests, they mostly drive around in vintage cars and drink coffee.
Colbert dropped by in 2015, and Seinfeld spent a good amount of the episode ribbing his guest, but Thompson appears to be referring to a bit when they were discussing the formats of their show.
“This is actually very relaxing,” Colbert said over coffee.
“Exactly,” Seinfeld replied. “When I come on your show, I’m going to do a stand-up set. You know how long it’s going to take me to put that together? So you cannot compare the pain in the ass of doing your show to the joy and pleasure of doing mine.”
You can watch Thompson’s funny, impassioned defense of Colbert in the video above, around the 2:10 mark. It’s altogether a rather delightful interview from someone who clearly admires his host (he even brought his family along).
