Jon Stewart may have moved on to greener pastures (or New Jersey), but his protégé Stephen Colbert is keeping him on call as an executive producer for "The Late Show" on CBS.
Stewart made several cameo appearances during Colbert's first night on the job on Tuesday night, but it was his name in the end credits as executive producer that surprised nearly everyone. CBS and Colbert had made no mention of that in the press blitz leading up to the premiere.
The former "Daily Show" host co-created "The Colbert Report" on Comedy Central with Colbert and Ben Karlin. He also held an executive producer credit on the "Report" but had little involvement in the day-to-day, according to The Hollywood Reporter. It's unclear what his involvement with "The Late Show" will be moving forward.
(Stewart also created and is an executive producer on "The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore," which replaced "The Colbert Report.")
Colbert roped his mentor into helping him start the show and dressed him as a baseball umpire at a kids' little league game. Stewart stood in disguise before discarding his mask and announcing "Play Ball!" after Colbert sang "The Star-Spangled Banner" across the country.
In a post-credits scene alluded to earlier in the episode, a photo of Stewart was seen taped inside Colbert's gym locker. The locker room featured the names of all the late-night hosts on the lockers and Jimmy Fallon, the host of NBC's "The Tonight Show," came in to open his locker which featured the recent Time magazine cover of Colbert taped inside.
"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" airs its second episode tonight with guests Scarlett Johansson, Elon Musk and Kendrick Lamar at 11:35 p.m. on CBS.
