the late show with stephen colbert
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Mariah Carey graces The Late Show With Stephen Colbert with her presence on Wednesday night’s (Dec. 7) episode, and in the lead-up to the sit-down, the talk show gave fans a sneak peek at the Queen of Christmas taking Stephen Colbert’s famed “Colbert Questionert.”
The host kicks off the round of questions by asking, “You only get one song to listen to for the rest of your life. What is it?” Mariah’s answer turns out to inadvertently be one of her very own. “Stephen Colbert’s latest hit,” she replied cheekily, to which Colbert informed her, “The last song I sang was ‘All I Want for Christmas’ on this show, last night, actually. … I ended the monologue singing your song last night!”
Of course, the icon wanted to know just how much of her No. 1 hit the host crooned, and he treated her to the song’s iconic intro and part of the chorus. “You skipped a little part of the B section, but that’s all right,” Mariah sang along to the melody as the audience erupted into laughter with her.
“All I Want for Christmas Is You” has already begun its now-annual journey up the Hot 100 for this Christmas season. On the chart dated Dec. 10, the 1994 single sits at No. 2, just behind Taylor Swift’s “Anti-Hero.” It’s peaked at No. 1 three years in a row now, dating back to its first ascension in 2019.
Later this month, Carey is bringing her Christmas spirit to New York City and Toronto for a quartet of Merry Christmas to All! holiday concerts, and will also get her very own primetime holiday special on CBS.
Watch a preview of Mariah’s festive “Colbert Questionert” below.
Comedian Mike Birbiglia has steadily climbed from playing college cafeteria gigs to comedy clubs, off-Broadway theaters, starring in films and, currently, playing Broadway with his latest one-man show, The Old Man & the Pool. But despite spinning his warm-hearted tales in TV shows, movies, his Working It Out podcast and the stage, nothing could prepare the frequent This American Life contributor for an unexpected phone call he got a few months ago from Taylor Swift.
“I’m in the ‘Anti-Hero‘ video… it’s just a fluke-y thing,” Birbiglia told Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night’s (Nov. 8) The Late Show about his stunt casting alongside fellow funny folk John Early (Search Party) and Mary Elizabeth Ellis (It’s Always Sunny In Philadelphia) in the video, where they play Swift’s battling heirs. Mike and Taylor happen to share a friend in common, producer Jack Antonoff, who Birbiglia explained he met at Bonnaroo 15 years ago.
“It just so happened she was writing the music video the day that we happened to meet and we were having pizza with Jack and a bunch of folks and she thought, ‘Oh, you,’” Birbiglia said. “Apparently in her mind she thought this is the dystopoic, nightmare version of what my son would be. And that’s my dream come true.”
Birbiglia wasn’t sure his fantasy would become reality at first, though. He said he got a text from Swift a month or two later and, if he’s being honest, he was pretty sure he was being catfished. “I thought, ‘it’s either Taylor Swift… that would be cool,’ or it’s someone catfishing me who’s an excellent writer,” he recalled thinking when the call came in. “Because she sent the script to the video, that’s wonderful and very funny… so I thought, ‘either way, sort of a win-win.’ And I go, ‘count me in… either Taylor Swift or catfish person!’”
Swift will notch another major career milestone this week she she becomes the first artist to spend a full year at No. 1 on the Billboard Artist 100 chart.
Watch Birgiblia tell his Taylor tale on The Late Show below.