Stephen Colbert accidentally calls ‘Late Show’ the wrong name on air

Even Stephen Colbert was shocked when he accidentally called The Late Show by the wrong name on air this week.

The late-night host may have been preparing to ask Eddington star Joaquin Phoenix if he would participate in the show’s recurring segment The Colbert Questionert on Thursday’s episode, but his brain seemed much more preoccupied taking a little walk down memory lane.

“There’s this thing we do here at The Colbert Report… Oh my God!” Colbert exclaimed as he caught the error, turning toward the camera in awe and covering his mouth with his hand.

As the crowd — and Phoenix — applauded and laughed at the flub, he added, “I want you to know — hold on! I want you to know — wait!”

The comedian quickly burst into his own laughter. “This September, I’ll be doing 10 years of this show,” he told Phoenix. “I have never done that before. That’s the first time in 10 years.”

“Back me up!” he added, calling out to the show’s band. “That’s the first time in 10 years.”

He then explained that the mistake came from Phoenix’s ability to pull “something out of me” that even he hadn’t expected.

“You cracked this oyster,” Colbert said, to which the delighted actor replied, “I’m sorry!”

“See, but that’s what I wanna do with my questions because we here at The Late Show…” he continued, placing extra emphasis on the show’s actual name, “we’ve come up with this system by which we can get to know people very quickly, very thoroughly. I mean, really, the person’s fully known.”

He concluded, “Are you ready to face The Colbert Questionert?”

Turns out, Phoenix was not prepared for the power of The Colbert Questionert, because he struggled with just about every question, which ranged from “What happens when we die?” to the dreaded “Apples or oranges?”

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The latter question stumped Phoenix so hard that his indecisiveness actually began to draw groans from the audience. “I want you to be happy!” he admitted. “You have power over editing this. I don’t want you to be angry when this is being edited!” 

But Colbert was ready to assuage his concerns. “This isn’t a trap,” he said. “I am not a trapdoor spider — the scariest of all spiders.”

Phoenix, in the end, chose both fruits.

But the actor continued to flounder when asked to name his favorite action movie, which led him to forget the name of every action movie that has ever existed. The audience eventually selected Gladiator — a film that he literally starred in — and the quiz pressed onward. 

“Do other people struggle with this, or I’m the only one? Like, everyone else is just like [snaps fingers]?” Phoenix asked, to which Colbert responded, “I don’t perceive you as struggling with this. I perceive you as not playing at all.”

The host continued, “No. I mean, people have different reactions to this. Some people — like, Sting was lickety-split. He tore through the questions really fast. Owen Wilson, that’s pretty long.”

Phoenix cheekily replied, “Well, I want the record.”

Consider it done. “Joaquin, I have some great news for you,” Colbert said through laughter. “You busted that thing a long time ago. You were redlining on favorite sandwich.”

On a much more somber note, Thursday’s episode also included Colbert’s announcement that The Late Show would end its 33-year run on CBS in 2026.

“Let me tell you, it is a fantastic job. I wish somebody else was getting it,” he confessed. “And it’s a job that I’m looking forward to doing with this usual gang of idiots for another 10 months. It’s going to be fun.”

Watch Colbert forget what show he’s hosting — and Phoenix forget everything else — in the clip above.