--- title: Stephen Colbert Interviews Dennis Rodman About Kim Jong Un description: Stephen Colbert sat down with former basketball star Dennis Rodman to try to to understand his relationship with the North Korean leader. canonical: https://time.com/5064331/colbert-dennis-rodman/ author: Raisa Bruner article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-14T16:56:50.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-04T07:47:24.195Z og:title: Colbert Takes Dennis Rodman to Task About Kim Jong Un og:description: The late night host asked the tough questions og:url: https://time.com/5064331/colbert-dennis-rodman/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f95c589e62cc34e/6988f51ecf40a81a56c4a99a/dennis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: Dennis og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Colbert Takes Dennis Rodman to Task About Kim Jong Un twitter:description: The late night host asked the tough questions twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt1f95c589e62cc34e/6988f51ecf40a81a56c4a99a/dennis.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert Takes Dennis Rodman to Task About Kim Jong Un > Sponsored content. 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Every edition is assembled by TIME editors rather than generated automatically. ## Video: North Korea Says Nuclear War on the Peninsula Is Inevitable and an 'Established Fact' [Watch (HLS stream): North Korea Says Nuclear War on the Peninsula Is Inevitable and an 'Established Fact'](https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/QyvmSxBk.m3u8) (1:40)  _Published 2017-12-07. North Korea says a nuclear war on the Korean Peninsula has become a matter of when, not if, as it continued to lash out at a massive joint military exercise between the United States and South Korean involving hundreds of advanced warplanes._  by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Dec 14, 2017 4:56 PM UTC   by [Raisa Bruner](https://time.com/author/raisa-bruner/)  ## Raisa Bruner Dec 14, 2017 4:56 PM UTC In a surprising interview, talk show host [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/5064204/stephen-colbert-trump-omarosa-fired/) welcomed former basketball star [Dennis Rodman](http://time.com/4822725/dennis-rodman-north-korea-ambassador-shirt/) to his couch to discuss his relationship with North Korean leader [Kim Jong Un](http://time.com/time-person-of-the-year-2017-kim-jong-un-runner-up/). Rodman, as Colbert noted, has been to North Korea five times since 2013, meeting multiple times with the young dictator during his visits, despite the fact that the U.S. and North Korea have an [embattled diplomatic relationship.](http://time.com/5063971/north-korea-rex-tillerson-talks-white-house/) So how did their unlikely friendship come to be? “Well, for some reason he likes me,” Rodman — wearing shades for the duration of the interview — explained to Colbert. “For some reason he trusts me.” “I don’t know anyone in the world who would actually try to kill anyone on this planet. I don’t get that,” he added, before noting further: “I’m not protecting him. People think I just sit there and say, ‘Hey, he’s my best friend.’ No, that’s not the case. He just treats me as a friend.” Colbert pushed back, asking what Rodman could possibly chat about with “a madman murderous dictator.” The answer? They discuss basketball. “We’re all human beings,” Rodman insisted. “I don’t see how people can sit there and say this person’s a madman. He probably is, but I don’t see that. He probably is.” Rodman also said he considered Kim Jong Un “more a kid than anything.” But ultimately, the two unlikely pals don’t discuss politics because that’s not Rodman’s job, in his view. “My job is to connect us with them,” he said, before gifting Colbert a very unusual personalized t-shirt. Watch above for the full interview and Colbert’s reactions. ## Transcript [ MUSIC ] We don't think. He has an understanding about how tenuous his position is. Domestically and internationally. That is those around him are not feeding him the truth about the place that he finds himself, how precarious his position is in the world today. It's probably not easy to tell Kim Jong- un bad news. 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