--- description: Stephen Colbert had a surprising reveal about President Donald Trump: apparently, Trump is a boring late night guest. title: Here's Why Stephen Colbert Didn't Like Hosting Donald Trump image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte67d1bb309f0d5cb/6988e5c48fd2eed150359a23/stephen-colbert-on-interviewing-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=3840&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  * [Newsfeed](/tag/time-section-newsfeed/) ## Newsfeed Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close # Stephen Colbert Has a Surprising Gripe About Donald Trump — And It Has Nothing to Do With Politics  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 14, 2017 4:35 PM CUT  NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. (Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images) NEW YORK - SEPTEMBER 22: Donald Trump talks about his US Presidential campaign on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Tuesday Sept. 22, 2015 on the CBS Television Network. (Photo by John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images)CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images  by [Cady Lang](/author/cady-lang/)  ## Cady Lang Update your preferences in [Account Settings](/account/preferences/) Close Nov 14, 2017 4:35 PM CUT While [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4738803/stephen-colbert-on-trump-ratings/ "undefined") has been a vocal critic of Donald Trump’s time in the Oval Office, he had a surprisingly apolitical critique to offer about the President when [he was a guest on ](http://time.com/4038202/colbert-fallon/ "undefined")_The Late Show with Stephen Colbert_. In an interview with [_GQ_](https://www.gq.com/story/stephen-colbert-makes-america-great "undefined"), Colbert revealed that he thinks that Trump is boring, an observation that’s gained less momentum from the public than, say, than Colbert’s views on [Trump’s healthcare plan](http://time.com/4712235/stephen-colbert-on-trump-health/ "undefined") or [Trump’s Twitter fingers.](http://time.com/4977418/stephen-colbert-donald-trump-iq-tweets/ "undefined") “Trump is actually kind of a boring guest,” he said. “My brother Ed was in the audience the night that Trump was on, in 2015\. And after the show, he goes, ‘Okay, so he’s not a dummy.’ Because Trump wouldn’t even look me in the eye, really. He put his hands in his lap like a little boy, and he was very, very safe. Obviously, there’s an element of fear of making a mistake—what’s he going to get out of the interview if he’s too entertaining?” That’s not to say that Colbert withheld his dissatisfaction with Trump as the leader of the country in the rest of the interview; later, he went on to compare Donald Trump’s representation of the U.S. to “hearing little children say filthy words. It shocks you and makes you wonder how this came about.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert Has a Surprising Gripe About Donald Trump — And It Has Nothing to Do With Politics","datePublished":"2017-11-14T16:35:02.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:48:46.748Z","description":"\"Trump wouldn’t even look me in the eye, really\"","url":"https://time.com/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/","keywords":["Newsfeed","politics","celebrities","viral","stephen colbert","Donald Trump","Late Night Television","the late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte67d1bb309f0d5cb/6988e5c48fd2eed150359a23/stephen-colbert-on-interviewing-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Cady Lang","jobTitle":null,"url":"https://time.com/author/cady-lang/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blte67d1bb309f0d5cb/6988e5c48fd2eed150359a23/stephen-colbert-on-interviewing-donald-trump.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","caption":"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert","creditText":"CBS Photo Archive—CBS via Getty Images","representativeOfPage":true}],"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/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/","name":"Stephen Colbert Has a Surprising Gripe About Donald Trump — And It Has Nothing to Do With Politics"}}]},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"VideoObject","name":"“What About…” President Trump’s Favorite Dodge","description":"Ask Donald Trump a tough question, and he’ll often answer: What about something else?","thumbnailUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/v2/media/8kg0dG6J/poster.jpg?width=720","uploadDate":"2017-09-14T15:51:55.000Z","contentUrl":"https://cdn.jwplayer.com/manifests/8kg0dG6J.m3u8","embedUrl":"https://time.com/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/","duration":"PT2M8S","potentialAction":{"@type":"SeekToAction","target":"https://time.com/5023261/stephen-colbert-on-trump-late-show-interview/?jw_start={seek_to_second_number}","startOffset-input":"required name=seek_to_second_number"}}] ```