Stephen Colbert says Trump is ‘essentially boring’ and his persona is ‘an act’

Late-night host was asked about his most memorable interviews, as well as the ones he wouldn't repeat

Stephen Colbert has claimed he wouldn’t want to interview US president Donald Trump again because he was “boring” the first time they spoke.

The late-night host was interviewed by Watch What Happens Live presenter Andy Cohen, who asked Colbert about his career of interviewing celebrities.

After saying he would want to interview Jesus, Colbert demurred at the idea of Trump and reflected on the time he had the then-presidential candidate on his show in September 2015.

“I wouldn’t want to anymore,” he said, explaining that he found Trump “disappointing” because “he played the ‘reasonable man’”.

“He’s always kind of in persona mode,” Colbert said. “Sometimes he plays the rallying populist, sometimes he plays ‘reasonable man.’ Backstage, he’s just like some guy you’d meet at a [country] club.”

He continued: “He’s kind of innocuous in a way. There’s nothing particularly remarkable about him. But then he puts on a persona for the camera and the persona he gave me when he was on the show that first time was actually very quiet and very reserved.

“He played it very safe. 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.”

Earlier this month, Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel hit out at Trump on Twitter after he attacked their ratings.

Comparing them to Fox News host Greg Gutfeld, the US president wrote: “His Ratings easily beat no talent Stephen Colbert, nice guy Jimmy Fallon, and wacko ‘last placer’ Jimmy Kimmel. Greg built his show from scratch, and did a great job in doing so.”

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In response to Trump’s post, Kimmel tweeted: “Happy Cinco de Mayo Mr President! Thanks for the shout-out – now get back to work royally f***ing everything up!”

Colbert said: “It’s nice to know that Trump is staying laser-focused on the ball during a crisis. I can’t speak for Seth. He’s very talented. But I am an idiot.

“The only reason I have this job is because I married the daughter of Donald CBS and for some reason, he keeps putting me in charge of everything.”