With his Late Show debut still months away, Stephen Colbert recently usurped the Michigan public access show Only in Monroe to discuss traffic with Eminem. The main guests on Colbert’s overwhelmingly satirical show, which contains jokes about eating muskrat and local Yelp fights, were its regular hosts – former Miss America Kaye Lani Rafko-Wilson and registered nurse Michelle Baumann – but it’s his 20-minute interview with “Marshall Mathers” midway through the show where things turn surreal.
The rapper, who wore an odd hoodie-blazer combo, explains to the seemingly naïve host that while he’s from Michigan, he’s not from the Monroe area, with the pair discussing the pitfalls of road construction and drinking sewage. “So [you’re] from Detroit,” Colbert says at one point. “Who are some of your biggest musical influences? I imagine Motown, Ted Nuget, obviously, Seger?”
“Bob Seger?” Eminem asks. “Bob Seger’s great.” Colbert goes on to challenge Eminem to sing Seger songs like “Against the Wind,” “Like a Rock” and “Night Moves.” The rapper just played it cool, eventually muttering “Old Time Rock and Roll.”
Their conversation goes on to cover Eminem’s feelings about Will Smith and Bone Thugs-n-Harmony, the meaning of “feat.” on a rap song and why the rapper would want to hide “such a cute face” under a hoodie. The rapper even puts on Colbert and says that he keeps it clean in his raps.
Other highlights include Colbert reading Eminem’s lyrics and the “clip” from the Eminem-produced boxing film Southpaw featuring cats (at the 31-minute mark). Ultimately, they run out of time for Eminem to perform, though the rapper has time to read the town’s community calendar.
Colbert has confirmed that he will be abandoning his mock-conservative persona when he takes over David Letterman’s old show. The public access satire, though, published not to the show’s regular YouTube page but Colbert’s, suggests he will be keeping up his brazenly aloof shtick. The Late Show With Stephen Colbert will premiere on September 8th.
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