Stephen Colbert reflects on Toby Keith friendship, thanks late country legend for teaching him to never 'prejudge' a guest
MANHATTAN, NEW YORK CITY: On February 5, Stephen Colbert honored his late friend Toby Keith on 'The Late Show'.
The host opened the show by acknowledging the death of the country music star. "I was shocked and saddened when I saw the news this morning," he said.
Stephen Colbert reflects on friendship with Toby Keith
Colbert shared, "I knew Toby was ill — he’d been battling stomach cancer for some time — but I still held onto hope that we’d see each other again and hear him on this stage."
Colbert reminisced about his initial encounter with Keith in 2006, during the country musician's appearance on 'The Colbert Report', and reflected on the unexpected bond that formed between them.
"I was lucky enough to become friends with Toby over the years, as improbable as that seems. We met very early on The Colbert Report and back then, there was a not-so-helpful legend that I had knives out for some of my guests. It didn’t help that, at the beginning, I sometimes did," Colbert said.
"I remember having some kind of plan for Toby, I think related to his ‘Boot in your ass’ song [‘Courtesy of the Red, White, and Blue (The Angry American)’]. But right before I went onstage, I remember vividly looking down at my shoes and saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re a host. He’s your guest. Make him feel welcome. See who he is,"' reminisced the late-night host.
"And what do you know? We hit it off like a house on fire. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed talking to Toby Keith," he continued.
Colbert cherishes compliment from Toby Keith
"And, evidently, Toby had a good time too, because after the show, I was headed to a postmortem meeting and he was coming out of his green room. Those rooms are on the same hallway. As he was heading for the door that goes down to 54th Street, he caught my eye and said: 'Hey man, you do a great job. Whatever the heck it is you do.' And I took it as the greatest compliment," Colbert further added.
Colbert was deeply moved by Keith's words. So much so that his head writer, Allison Silverman, decided to stitch the quote onto a pillow as a Christmas present for the host. "It has been in my office ever since," said Colbert.
"That day, Toby taught me not to prejudge a guest and to have my intention, but to keep my eyes open to the reality of who they are. For that lesson, and for a lot of other things, I’m always gonna be grateful," Colbert expressed.
He then went on to outline Keith’s significant achievements as one of country music's biggest stars, recounting other memories of the late musician's appearances on his show.
One particularly poignant moment Colbert shared was about when he had the honor of inducting Keith into the Songwriters Hall of Fame in 2015.
Colbert performed a rendition of 'As Good as I Once Was', a Keith song he "used to listen to every night before going onstage," marking it as one of his "greatest honors."
"And with his passing, I will try to remember that again. It's something we all need to remember. 'Cause I'm sure Toby and I disagreed about many things, as so many Americans do these days," concluded Colbert.
Before ending the show, he added, "More and more of us are angrier and angrier with each other. But tonight, I will issue this invitation to anybody. I do not care who you are. I will meet you at this place. I will meet you at being broken-hearted that Toby Keith is gone. Thank you, big dog."
