Stephen Colbert revealed to Jerry Seinfeld that he was going to leave “The Colbert Report” regardless of the offer to replace David Letterman as the host of CBS’s “The Late Show.”
“I was ready to stop,” he says in the latest episode of Seinfeld’s Crackle web series “Comedians in Cars Getting Coffee.”
The former Comedy Central host told the comedian that he had been planning to leave even before he received the offer from CBS: “The Letterman thing fell into my lap.”
Though he’ll be filling the role vacated by Letterman’s retirement, the new “Late Show” host doesn’t have any intention of feuding with other late night hosts.
“Nothing would be more boring than late night war,” he says, admitting that he had drinks with Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC’s “The Tonight Show,” to laugh about the whole idea.
Colbert, who came up through Chicago’s Second City, also talked about his early days as a performer. He had originally intended to be an actor, but ended up doing mostly sketch comedy until he joined “The Daily Show” as a correspondent.