During what seemed like another ordinary night on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert suddenly revealed a side of himself fans rarely witness. As he spoke about his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert, his voice softened, the audience leaned in, and the entire studio fell completely still.
After 31 years together, the emotion behind his words felt painfully real — not scripted, not performed, just raw honesty from a man known for making millions laugh every night. 💔🎭
Stephen Colbert, Wife Evie Close Book on Late Show ‘First Drafts’
And with this Wednesday’s episode of CBS’s The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, that’s a wrap on “First Drafts.”
A recurring segment since 2000, “First Drafts” puts Evie McGee Colbert in the guest chair as the couple—married for more than 30 years—cycles through a series of fictitious greeting cards, starting with the finished, typically schmaltzy version, followed by a “not-so-great” first draft.
With Mother’s Day this Sunday, this time around the cards centered on that Hallmark holiday.
After welcoming Evie to the stage, Stephen Colbert said to his wife, “Listen, honey. This is very special. This is the final draft of ‘First Drafts that we’re going to do.’”
“It’s been fun,” Evie said. “I have had a very good time…. Six years! It’s been really fun.”
The two proceeded with the segment as always, with Evie feeding her husband the cards to read, a pair at a time. But with The Late Show‘s May 21 end date fast approaching, Evie at one point was led to pause the bit to prep her mate for post-Late Show life.
“It’s a good time for me to bring up something..,” she started. “It’s been 21 years you’ve been obsessed with your job. We’re going to have a lot of time, and I think we need to establish ground rules.”
Among them, “I think we need to reacquaint you with social interaction with people in the real world,” she said. “Not everybody wants to talk about song lyrics when you run in to get a bottle of wine.”
Also, “You can’t just recite poetry to strangers. I don’t think they’re going to love that,” Evie said. “They are not like your staff who go, ‘Thank you, that’s beautiful.’”
Colbert of course could only respond to that with a bit of Shakespeare: “Age cannot wither nor custom stale my infinite variety.”
Evie responded with a laugh, “It’s going to be a rocky summer.”
As the final “First Drafts” reached its conclusion, Evie got reflective about her more than three dozen appearances on the late-night program, which date back to early-pandemic, taped-from-home A Late Show with Stephen Colbert episodes.
“I just want to say thank you….Thank you for letting me be part of this,” she said to her husband. “And I also want to say you have the most incredibly wonderful staff. They are so nice to me, and I love them.”
