--- title: Thanksgiving: Stephen Colbert Gave Advice on Turkey Recipes description: The Late Show host answered real questions from real callers to the Butterball turkey helpline. But don't follow any of his advice canonical: https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/ author: Melissa Locker article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-23T15:24:26.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:38:55.907Z og:title: Don’t Follow Any of Stephen Colbert’s Advice About How to Cook a Turkey og:description: The Late Show host answered real questions from real callers on Butterball's helpline og:url: https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: TIME og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Don’t Follow Any of Stephen Colbert’s Advice About How to Cook a Turkey twitter:description: The Late Show host answered real questions from real callers on Butterball's helpline twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/bltde093bcdab65f2d0/6988d9b9bc6cfc69913e2a3c/time-logo.jpg?branch=production --- # Don’t Follow Any of Stephen Colbert’s Advice About How to Cook a Turkey by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 23, 2016 3:24 PM UTC by [Melissa Locker](https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/) ## Melissa Locker Nov 23, 2016 3:24 PM UTC Americans cook millions of [turkeys](http://time.com/4298825/stephen-colbert-hillary-clinton-late-show-carnegie-deli/?iid=sr-link1) every year for Thanksgiving, but few people would consider themselves experts in the field, including Stephen Colbert. However, that didn’t stop _The Late Show_ host from masquerading as an expert. [ _The Late Show_ host](http://time.com/4521148/stephen-colbert-clowns/?iid=sr-link3) recently joined the folks at the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line—decked out in his finest turkey-themed sweater—and took over one of the hotline’s phones to baffle callers. If you called the Butterball Turkey Talk-Line last weekend, and the putative expert spoke only in French, suggested you spank the turkey “like a lover,” or warned you to run, because the turkey “was gonna blow,” there’s a good chance you were actually talking to Colbert. Over the course of the videos, the best advice [Colbert](http://time.com/4567806/donald-trump-cabinet-stephen-colbert/?iid=sr-link6) gave was when he cautioned a caller, “You’ll be fine as long as you don’t take any of my advice.” [Colbert’s](http://time.com/4502764/michelle-obama-stephen-colbert/?iid=sr-link9) phone line prank was a follow-up to [a segment](https://youtu.be/u6hX%5F7L1QsU) he did last year where he pestered the turkey experts with unusual questions, like, “I got a nephew who wants me to [make Tofurkey ](http://time.com/4579790/jimmy-kimmel-kids-politically-correct-thanksgiving/?iid=sr-link2)this year. What’s the best way to let him know he’s no longer welcome in my house?” While it’s too late to talk to Colbert, the experts at 1-800-BUTTERBALL are just a phone call or, better yet, a text away. ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/"},"headline":"Don’t Follow Any of Stephen Colbert’s Advice About How to Cook a Turkey","datePublished":"2016-11-23T15:24:26.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:38:55.907Z","description":"The Late Show host answered real questions from real callers on Butterball's helpline","url":"https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","Holidays","stephen colbert","Thanksgiving","late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Melissa Locker","jobTitle":"","url":"https://time.com/author/melissa-locker/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4581401/stephen-colbert-thanksgiving-turkey-butterball-helpline/","name":"Don’t Follow Any of Stephen Colbert’s Advice About How to Cook a Turkey"}}]}] ```