De Niro’s – Stephen Colbert’s penultimate “Late Show” episode turned playful—until Robert De Niro steered a question about a number into a pointed jab at Donald Trump over the Epstein files.
Stephen Colbert spent his penultimate week as host of “The Late Show” doing what he’s done best: stacking the stage with famous faces and letting the jokes land in quick succession.
In the run-up to his final weeks. Colbert has already brought on Barack Obama. Tom Hanks. John Oliver. Jon Stewart. and even David Letterman—complete with a gag about throwing furniture off the roof of the Ed Sullivan Theater. For his penultimate episode. he kept that momentum going with a roster of guests that included Aubrey Plaza and Martha Stewart. The night played out like a celebrity relay. with the guests taking turns asking Colbert—who sat on the guest sofa—fairly random questions such as what his favorite action movie is.
Then it was Robert De Niro’s turn.
The Oscar-winning acting legend—described in the moment as a certified Trump hater—jumped into a different kind of game. De Niro asked Colbert, “What number were you thinking of?” and laid out the setup with a practiced rhythm. He said there’s “a hint as to what the answer is. ” because whenever someone answers the question and gets it wrong. he says “no.” When he gives the right answer—De Niro said it’s happened “at least twice”—the two correct examples he cited were Meryl Streep and Ethan Hawke. He then added that after Ethan Hawke guessed correctly, Hawke “goes immediately, ‘I know what it is. It’s three.’”.
De Niro didn’t stop at the number game. He shifted the punch line straight toward his favorite target.
De Niro replied to Colbert’s question with a curveball: he said, “Because I thought it would have been two million point five, or two and a half million.” He then connected it to Donald Trump with a sharper line: “That’s the number of Epstein files Trump still hasn’t released.”
The audience response was immediate—great applause from the crowd—and Colbert joined in as the joke landed.
Robert De Niro Stephen Colbert The Late Show Epstein files Donald Trump Meryl Streep Ethan Hawke Aubrey Plaza Martha Stewart