--- title: Stephen Colbert on Cancelled Louis C K Late Show Interview description: Here's what Stephen Colbert was planning on asking Louis C.K. if he hadn't pulled out of his scheduled November appearance on The Late Show. canonical: https://time.com/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2017-12-04T15:39:33.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-04-13T07:49:02.071Z og:title: Here's What Stephen Colbert Wanted to Ask Louis C.K. on The Late Show og:description: "Can you separate the artist from the rumors about him?" og:url: https://time.com/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1e1f8493ff0daa/6988f37bfb4eac6046894ca5/the-late-show-louis-ck-stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 1200 og:image:height: 675 og:image:alt: The-Late-Show-Louis-CK-Stephen-Colbert og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Here's What Stephen Colbert Wanted to Ask Louis C.K. on The Late Show twitter:description: "Can you separate the artist from the rumors about him?" twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1e1f8493ff0daa/6988f37bfb4eac6046894ca5/the-late-show-louis-ck-stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Here's What Stephen Colbert Wanted to Ask Louis C.K. on _The Late Show_  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 4, 2017 3:39 PM UTC  Stephen Colbert talks with Louis C.K. during the April 4, 2017 taping of The Late Show in New York. Stephen Colbert talks with Louis C.K. during the April 4, 2017 taping of The Late Show in New York.John Paul Filo/CBS via Getty Images  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Dec 4, 2017 3:39 PM UTC [Louis C.K.](http://time.com/5028755/sarah-silverman-louis-ck-sexual-misconduct-response/) cancelled his scheduled [_Late Show_](http://time.com/5044868/melania-trump-christmas-colbert/)appearance on the day before the _New York Times_ published a [report](https://www.nytimes.com/2017/11/09/arts/television/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct.html?smid=tw-share&%5Fr=0) in which [five women publicly accused him of sexual misconduct](http://time.com/5017766/louis-ck-sexual-misconduct-allegations/). But if the comedian hadn’t pulled out of the November interview, here’s what host Stephen Colbert says he wanted to ask him. During a live conversation with Samantha Bee on Saturday to benefit Montclair Film, Colbert explained the roundabout way he was planning on addressing the then-rumors about C.K.’s inappropriate sexual behavior. C.K. has since [confirmed](http://time.com/5019384/louis-ck-apologizes-full-statement/) that the allegations brought against him are true. “The way I was going to approach talking to him about this subject, which I knew he didn’t want to talk about, was people in the movie talk about rumors of sexual impropriety by one of the characters,” Colbert said, referencing C.K.’s cancelled movie, _I Love You, Daddy_, which centers on a relationship between a 17-year-old girl and a 68-year-old man. “At like minute 42, one of the characters says, ‘Can you separate the artist from the rumors about him?’ How would you answer that question? That was going to be my tack.” However, Colbert also admitted that he hadn’t known that the rumors about C.K. were anything but rumors. “I feel dumb,” he told Bee. “I didn’t know about Louis. I didn’t even know about Cosby. And that’s dumb.” ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/"},"headline":"Here's What Stephen Colbert Wanted to Ask Louis C.K. on The Late Show","datePublished":"2017-12-04T15:39:33.000Z","dateModified":"2026-04-13T07:49:02.071Z","description":"\"Can you separate the artist from the rumors about him?\"","url":"https://time.com/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/","keywords":["Newsfeed","Television","stephen colbert","TV","Louis C.K.","the late show","Late Night Television","the late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1e1f8493ff0daa/6988f37bfb4eac6046894ca5/the-late-show-louis-ck-stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt9a1e1f8493ff0daa/6988f37bfb4eac6046894ca5/the-late-show-louis-ck-stephen-colbert.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"The-Late-Show-Louis-CK-Stephen-Colbert","caption":"Stephen Colbert talks with Louis C.K. during the April 4, 2017 taping of The Late Show in New York.","creditText":"John Paul Filo/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/5047540/stephen-colbert-louis-c-k-cancelled-late-show-interview/","name":"Here's What Stephen Colbert Wanted to Ask Louis C.K. on The Late Show"}}]}] ```