Colbert Ready As "Late Show" Premiere Nears

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BEVERLY HILLS, Calif. (AP) - With Donald Trump's presidential bid generating news as well as comedy gold, Stephen Colbert is itching to get his share of the laughs once he returns to the air Sept. 8 as host of CBS' "The Late Show."

"Every night I light a candle that he stays in the race until Sept. 8," Colbert says. "But I also hope that nobody gets that candle too close to his hair."

Other things he said during this session: George Clooney will guest on opening night, with Kendrick Lamar (who performed on the final "Colbert Report" last fall) his first musical guest.

— He's pledging to maintain the eclectic mix of guests he hosted on "The Colbert Report," including artists, intellectuals, "politicians of all stripes," and even ordinary folks: "Somebody who's not famous but who's got something to say, I think that would be the perfect guest to have."

"I'm a comedian, but my favorite thing on the ('Report') became doing the interviews," he added — not the scripted material. "I got into comedy to do improvisation. When you're interviewing people, you don't know what's going to happen, and that's much closer to how I learned my craft."

— He and his staff moved into the offices above Manhattan's Ed Sullivan Theater — former home of David Letterman and his "Late Show" — only last week, and the set is under construction now. Among the physical changes from Dave's decades-long reign: the host desk will be found across the stage.

— He said he likes his soon-to-be-rival, Jimmy Fallon, and admires Fallon's "Tonight Show," and he declared any lingering traces of the Late Night Wars to be over: "The idea of war between hosts makes no sense to me. ... I didn't play a lot of sports when I was younger, so maybe I missed the competitive gene. Competition's not that fun to me. We're competing with ourselves to have fun on the show."

— CBS is giving Colbert a free hand to do the show he wants to do: "There have been no instructions. I think they liked what we did and are hoping we do more."

— But now he just wants to stop talking about "The Late Show" and get started doing it: "I don't like comedy in theory. That's just theology. I want to get to the religion!"

(© Copyright 2015 The Associated Press. All Rights Reserved. This material may not be published, broadcast, rewritten or redistributed.)

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