“Would you please come on my show? We don’t have to talk about politics,” Colbert wrote in a letter to his dream guest.

Stephen Colbert reveals the guest he’s still desperate to have on The Late Show: ‘My white whale’

"Would you please come on my show? We don't have to talk about politics," Colbert wrote in a letter to his dream guest.

By Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel

Wesley Stenzel is a news writer at **. He began writing for EW in 2022.

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May 6, 2026 4:34 p.m. ET

Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show' on Feb. 16, 2026. Credit:

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

- Stephen Colbert revealed which celebrity he wants to land before *The Late Show* ends.

- The comedian said that he invited the globally-recognizable figure onto the show in a letter.

- He also said that he told the potential guest that they "don't have to talk about politics."

As *The Late Show* approaches the end of its run on CBS, Stephen Colbert still has one dream guest whom he hasn't been able to book.

The comedian reflected on the show's forthcoming conclusion in a new interview with *The Hollywood Reporter*, in which he revealed that he wants Pope Leo XIV to join him on the air before the *Late Show* ends on May 21.

"The pope is my white whale," Colbert, who is an outspoken Catholic, said in the interview. "I wrote him. I said, 'Come on!' No, I said, 'Your Holiness, I hope this letter finds you well or, at the very least, infallible. Would you please come on my show? We don't have to talk about politics.'"

Pope Leo XIV in Vatican City on May 9, 2025.

Simone Risoluti/Vatican Media via Vatican Pool/Getty

Though Pope Leo XIV has made public statements that seem to defy the Trump administration's immigration policies and the war in Iran, Colbert suggested that avoiding political topics would help make a *Late Show* appearance more attractive to the Chicago-born head of the church.

"I didn't really think he'd want to talk about politics or anything like that," he said. "Little did I know that the guy could throw a punch [as he recently proved, feuding with Trump over the Iran war]. I said, 'Let's talk about being an American Catholic.'"

Colbert also joked that he'd feel personally betrayed if Pope Leo ended up on a rival late-night show. "Now, if the pope goes on Kimmel [instead], I'm going to think hard about the Presbyterian church," he said. "That's all I'm saying."

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Colbert previously met Leo's predecessor, Pope Francis, alongside over 100 other entertainers who assembled at the Vatican in 2024. "It was wonderful, something I'll never forget," the comedian said of the meeting at the time.

Trump recently attacked the pope on social media, opining that the leader is "WEAK on Crime, and terrible for Foreign Policy" in a Truth Social post. "Leo should get his act together as Pope, use Common Sense, stop catering to the Radical Left, and focus on being a Great Pope, not a Politician," the president wrote. "It's hurting him very badly and, more importantly, it's hurting the Catholic Church!"

Stephen Colbert on 'The Late Show' on March 30, 2026.

Scott Kowalchyk/CBS

Pope Leo responded to Trump's criticism with a public statement. "I have no fear of the Trump administration, or speaking out loudly of the message of the gospel, which is what I believe I am here to do, what the church is here to do," he said, per NBC News. "We are not politicians, we don't deal with foreign policy with the same perspective he might understand it, but I do believe in the message of the gospel, as a peacemaker."

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Colbert poked fun at Trump's spat with the pope on *The Late Show*.

"According to one Italian religious historian, 'Not even Hitler or Mussolini attacked the pope so directly and publicly,'" the host said of a quote from papal expert Massimo Faggioli. "It's never great when someone says, you should really be more discreet and respectful — you know, like Hitler."

*The Late Show* will conclude its run on CBS on May 21.

Original Article on Source

Source: “AOL Late”