After nearly 25 years in late night, Stephen Colbert has chatted with many famous faces. And while his job is to keep the conversation going on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, some stars make it harder than others. During a recent interview on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen, Colbert revealed the one celebrity guest who was so disappointing, he said he wouldn't want to interview them again. Read on to find out who it is, and for more on interviews gone wrong, check out The Worst "Late Night" Guest Conan O'Brien Ever Had.
During a May 2020 interview on Watch What Happens Live, host Andy Cohen asked Colbert if he'd ever want to interview former U.S. President Donald Trump. Colbert then revealed that he already had. "I did once. I wouldn't want to anymore," Colbert said. "He was actually kind of disappointing."
While Colbert and Trump have made biting remarks about each other over the years, when Trump was on The Late Show in Sept. 2015, they put their differences aside. But Trump and Colbert's opposing political opinions aren't the reason why he wouldn't ask the former president back. "He played 'the reasonable man.' He's always kinda in persona mode," Colbert said. "Sometimes he plays, like, the 'rallying populist' and other times he plays the 'reasonable man.' ... Backstage, he's just like some guy you might meet at a club. I mean 'country club,' not like disco. He's very clubbish and he's kind of innocuous in a way. There's nothing particularly remarkable about him."
When it was time for their interview, he wasn't nearly as talkative as Colbert expected him to be. "Then he puts on a persona for a camera, and the persona he gave me when he was on the show the first time was actually very quiet and very reserved," Colbert said. "He wouldn't even make eye contact for most of it. He played it extremely safe and that's always boring. He's essentially boring."
For more celebrities who talk show hosts didn't enjoy interviewing, read on. And for the guest his Daily Show colleague couldn't gel with, check out Jon Stewart Said This Was the Worst "Daily Show" Guest Ever.
1 | Mark Wahlberg
Tinseltown / ShutterstockWhile A-lister Mark Wahlberg has been on The Graham Norton Show a handful of times, when he appeared on the U.K. talk show in 2013 with Sarah Silverman and Michael Fassbender, he didn't make the best impression. In 2017, Graham Norton was asked if there were any guests who didn't make an effort or were under the influence on his show, and then, Wahlberg's name came up.
"He came on, he was fine," Norton said of Wahlberg during an interview on This Morning. "He did get very drunk, and we couldn't get any stories going. And then Michael Fassbender was on and he was getting this story... Then I look at Mark Wahlberg, and he was asleep. We didn't wake him. We were delighted. We could get on with some of the show." And for more talk show moments hosts would rather forget, check out Oprah Says This Was the Worst Guest She Ever Had.
2 | Trista Sutter
Kathy Hutchins / Shutterstock.comIn an interview on The Late Late Show in 2014, host Craig Ferguson asked Jay Leno if there was ever a guest who made him "gloss over." Instantly, without even remembering her full name, Leno said the first-ever Bachelorette, Trista Sutter, who he interviewed 2003. "I couldn't be less interested, I'd never seen the stupid reality show. Didn't know what it was," Leno said. After the show was over, Leno said that Sutter asked him for a picture in the parking lot, but he hadn't recognized her at all and she had to remind him of her name.
Soon after Leno's interview with Ferguson, Sutter tweeted: "After 10 yrs, ironic that I'm the topic of convo on @CraigyFerg last show. Thx 4 the shoutout @jayleno! Next time, plz mention my book." And for more entertainment news sent to you directly, sign up for our daily newsletter.
3 | Meredith Baxter
Joe Seer/ShutterstockWhen Wendy Williams was on Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen in 2012, Cohen asked her during a round of "Plead the Fifth" who was the worst interview in her career. After some hesitation, Williams revealed that her worst interview was with Family Ties star Meredith Baxter, who appeared on the show in May of that year. "While I liked Meredith Baxter, we had a struggling conversation the other day on the show," Williams said. "She's a great woman, but I can't think of a worse interview actually... It's just, yeah, I struggled." And for another celebrity who people struggled to work with, This Is the Worst "SNL" Host of All Time, Cast Says.
4 | Ann Coulter
Featureflash Photo Agency/ShutterstockDuring a Dec. 2020 episode of her show Dish Nation, Sherri Shepherd revealed that throughout her time co-hosting The View, the worst guest was political commentator Ann Coulter. "She tried to talk down to Barbara Walters," Shepherd said. "And I lost it."
When Coulter was on The View in 2009, she was promoting her book Guilty, and after Walters read a portion of it, Coulter told her that she was reading it like Mein Kampf, Adolf Hitler's manifesto. After Coulter kept insisting that Walters was doing this, Shepherd stepped in. "I don't appreciate the way you're talking to her," she said. "Nobody is attacking you." And for more on guests who made things difficult, check out The Worst Guest "Today" Has Ever Had, Host Says.
