The Poster Memorabilia blog

A Late Night Portal to Middle-earth

Years of stage doors at the Ed Sullivan, and a Tengwar poster that filled up one guest at a time.

By an anonymous Hollywood insider

Imagine a place where you can meet Frodo, Samwise, Gandalf, Aragorn, Galadriel, Arwen, and all the other amazing characters from J.R.R. Tolkien's The Lord of the Rings. The most famous figures of Middle-earth, one of the best fantasy worlds ever created. Little do people know, however, such a place actually existed: The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

I've always considered Stephen Colbert as one of the best late-night talk show hosts ever, because he's just so real. Plenty of hosts can work a room, but few of them ever felt like they were being entirely themselves on camera the way he did.

Stephen was always just Stephen, and you could tell it the most when he'd talk about his love for The Lord of the Rings. Not only is he a bona fide Tolkienite, but he'd always gush over the movies with the cast members who'd go on his program. Sean Astin's episodes were iconic, and who'd ever forget Andy Serkis dropping into the Gollum voice right there at the desk?

Is it crazy to say that this is part of why I moved to New York City? I went here for other reasons too, of course, but the possibility of meeting LOTR cast members at The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was definitely one of them. I made it my life's purpose to see them in person and get their autographs.

“Stephen was always just Stephen.”

Part of it is that my brother worked on the show. He didn't always get me in, but he did tell me when LOTR cast members would go on. And the moment he did, I'd always try my best to get tickets. Sometimes, he helped me, but for the most part, I had to rely on luck.

Needless to say, luck had a bigger hand. I got to see practically every cast member who went on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, from Elijah Wood and Andy Serkis to even Hugo Weaving and Cate Blanchett.

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What's even cooler is that I got to meet every single one of them at the stage door and had them sign my Lord of the Rings poster. It's not a standard movie poster from the trilogy either. It's a cool version with the Tengwar script forming a ring around the logo. It's perfect for getting autographs since there's a lot of free space.

For years, I used the late-night talk show to meet this amazing cast. I didn't get to see every episode they came on, but at least I got to see each cast member at least once. And it's always an awesome episode when they're on, with Colbert getting to be the ultimate Tolkien fanboy.

It's a shame the show ended this year. I'm sure Colbert would've had them on again many more times, and we could've had more Tolkien-centric episodes. Sadly, I don't think I'll ever get that portal to Middle-earth again. But if he starts a new show of his own, then maybe!

Some things you watch. This one you keep.

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