When Stephen Colbert was tapped to become the new host of The Late Show, he knew he had reached the pinnacle of his profession. “The only thing that felt like a promotion [after The Colbert Report],” he told The New York Times in 2015, “was to be offered to take over for Dave.”
At the time, the role of late-night host on one of the major networks was still seen as a quintessential dream job — one of the most stable gigs in entertainment, and one that allowed an uncommon level of creative freedom. “I just want to do things that scratch an itch for me,” Colbert told GQ in the lead-up to his Late Show debut. As with any career-defining job like it, the incredible perks came with equivalent burdens. As Jon Stewart said to the Times, “[T]hese types of shows use every part of the host.”
As Colbert faces the end of his Late Show tenure — the final broadcast is set for May 21, after the late-night staple was canceled last year — it would have been reasonable for the 61-year-old to take an indefinite sabbatical. No one would have begrudged him that after a decade of pouring his entire self into producing 150 to 200 shows a year.
Except, that’s not an accurate representation of how Colbert operated. Instead of making his job his entire life, as many people do when they reach what they assume to be the high point of their career, he continued to pursue his hobbies and passion projects on the side, which led to this week’s unexpected announcement: Stephen Colbert is working on a new Lord of the Rings movie.
In a video posted on Tuesday, director Peter Jackson and Colbert announced they are working on a film adaptation of certain chapters in J.R.R. Tolkien’s The Fellowship of the Ring that weren’t included in Jackson’s original movie trilogy. Colbert said he came up with the idea with his son, Peter, who is a screenwriter, and they eventually pitched it to Jackson, and then producers at New Line Cinema and Warner Bros.
“I could not be happier to say that they loved it,” Colbert said in the video, flanked by Tolkien memorabilia, “and so that’s what we’re going to be working on.”
As Colbert explained, this project has been in the works for years. He had been kicking the idea around for a while before he gave Jackson a call about two years ago, after which they teamed up with screenwriter Philippa Boyens, a co-writer on the original Lord of the Rings movies as well as the latest Tolkien film, The Lord of the Rings: The Hunt for Gollum, which is set for release in 2027. This was all taking place while he’s been the tireless host of The Late Show, which itself has included many moments where Colbert revealed his obsession with Tolkien.
The circumstances may seem rarefied — late-night host becomes blockbuster screenwriter — but there’s a lesson here for any career-driven professional: No matter how high you rise, it’s important to keep stoking your passions on the side. This is not a defense of hustle culture, or the 5-to-9 that comes after the 9-to-5, but a reminder that a life fully consumed by one job is a recipe for disappointment. What happens when your show gets canceled, or your department gets trimmed, or your role becomes redundant?
On the flip side, if you carve out time to cultivate your interests, you’re set up for success — in and outside of work. Take the case of another late-night host, Jay Leno, who was a fervent car collector and enthusiast during his decades hosting The Tonight Show, a hobby he immediately spun off into the show Jay Leno’s Garage, which he’s continued to host to this day even though it’s been pulled from TV and gone exclusively to YouTube. Outside the late-night sphere, there’s the NFL player who fell in love with the art of photography and became an NFL photographer, and the author of Project Hail Mary and The Martian who was self-publishing his fiction while he was working as a computer programmer. The examples are endless.
Don’t worry if your hobbies never translate to a career pivot, as they’re doing for Colbert — the rewards are still bountiful. Unplugging from the digital ecosystem that defines many workplaces these days has been shown to boost creativity. Even pastimes that are categorically “dull” can help you manage stress, improve your mood, boost your immune system and, potentially, score a few dates.
And if you happen to suck at your leisure activity of choice? Well, there’s beauty and benefits in mediocrity, too.
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