Stephen Colbert Breaks Character To Give Sincere Advice

In a stunning change of character (literally) Stephen Colbert turned off his satirical facade to provide some genuine advice on life in a 10 minute Vimeo video. Joining the likes of Jon Hamm and Seth Rogan, Stephen Colbert took part in the “Ask a Grown Man” series on the Vimeo channel Rookie to answer questions from people on the internet.

Yahoo! News reported on Colbert’s participation in the Q&A, claiming that Stephen is giving the world a rare glimpse of his real self. Of course, the world will be seeing plenty of the real Colbert when he takes over for David Letterman on The Late Show sometime next year; but for now, this video allows Colbert’s fans to see beyond the persona in The Colbert Report parodying right-wing pundits.

All of the questions asked to Colbert in the video were about young love and relationships, such as what love really is, why boys are mean, should a teenage girl be allowed to stay at her boyfriend’s house overnight, and how to tell if another person likes you. All of Stephen Colbert’s answers are honest and surprisingly rational for a person famous for poking fun at American politics with an extremely exaggerated comedic character.

Talking Points Memo also reported on the video, pointing out that some of Colbert’s advice is extremely useful for people (especially young girls) trying to understand the world of romance and the mystery of young boys. For example, when asked why boys catcall and make jokes about rape, Stephen responded:

“The reason boys do this kind of stuff is to get your attention. And no, I don’t think they know that it’s harmful, because I don’t think that they mean to be harmful. I just think they desperately want you to pay attention to them. So, my advice would be, if you don’t know the person who is doing it, I would ignore it.”

When one girl asked Stephen why a particular guy was sometimes mean to her and lied occasionally, Colbert replied:

“I would not waste my time with somebody who lies to you. Even the ‘mean to me’ is easier to deal with than somebody who lies to you a lot. Because if he lies to you, how do you know he really likes you?… I would give this person one last shot and say, ‘don’t ever lie to me again.'”

Stephen Colbert has only broken character a few times before. In an interview with NPR, Stephen talked about his religious faith. And in a rare video, Colbert shared how he preps guests on The Colbert Show for the onslaught of ignorance that is his character. See Stephen brief John Kerry in the video here.

For more on Stephen Colbert, check out Stephen’s comedy quarrel with Jon Stewart over who is the bigger Star Wars fan.