Watch Stephen Colbert kick through walls in wild Late Show opening directed by the Daniels
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After his dog ate The Late Show's opening credits, Stephen Colbert reached out to the Daniels — a.k.a directing duo Daniel Kwan and Daniel Scheinert — to help create a new sequence that soon found itself going hilariously off the rails.
The pair presented their chill vision for the intro to Colbert on Monday's broadcast. "We figured it's been a long day. Your audience is probably tired. They could use a break," Kwan explained. "We went with something a little more calm, meditative."
The duo's new and improved opening featured an ASMR voiceover and a whole list of special activities, including "reconnecting with a childhood friend over the phone," "the life-changing realization that you are enough and always have been," and "a full hour of watching a mushroom grow out of a fallen tree to acknowledge the beauty in the fact that everything, including you, must one day die."
While soothing, their pitch wasn't exactly the vibe that Colbert had in mind. "We need energy. I wanted explosions," he stressed. "I wanted fights. I want somebody to kick through a wall."
In fact, the Daniels' introspective intro was so relaxing that Colbert discovers the entire audience had fallen asleep in the theater. Amid fears they may need to cancel the episode, Colbert took things into his own hands, shouting, "No, I'm not going to let these two inexperienced man-children ruin my show just because this is the multiverse where they suck!"
Firing on all cylinders, the host stormed through the backstage area as the crowd slowly woke up — refreshed from their naps — to rally behind him. With only one second to showtime, he prepared to kick through a wall to get to the stage… only to crack his head and immediately collapse to the ground.
Gail Schulman/CBS; CBS Stephen Colbert, Daniel Scheinert, and Daniel Kwan
But it's okay! It was just Colbert's stunt double, who missed the clearly marked "breakaway wall" and ran straight into the clearly marked "wall" and died. With half a second to showtime, Colbert commands the Daniels to bury his double's body and breaks through the wall himself to thunderous applause.
The Daniels may soon find themselves receiving applause of their own on Sunday evening at the 2023 Oscars. The pair's Everything Everywhere All At Once is nominated for 11 awards, including Best Picture, Best Director, and Best Original Screenplay.
Watch Colbert save the day in the clip above.
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