Stephen Colbert's "Late Show" Debut
BERMAN: All right, the moment so many of you have been waiting for if you stay up past 8:00 at night, which I don't. The debut of "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert," now part of history. The premiere featured George Clooney and Jeb Bush as guests. But all eyes on the new host, you can see him right there, Stephen Colbert. How did he do? One man knows the answer. Brian Stelter, CNN media correspondent, host of "Reliable Sources." Big moment, Brian.</s>BRIAN STELTER, CNN SENIOR MEDIA CORRESPONDENT: Absolutely. "The Late Show" is an American institution thanks to David letterman. And now Colbert has to keep it that way. Now, Colbert has to take the reins and hopefully do it as long as letterman was able to, 22 years. He got off to a very strong start last night, extra-long episode. He taped for hours in the newly renovated Ed Sullivan Theater. Then they edited down to an extra-long episode. And I guess for our west coast viewers, it just aired. This is him talking about how long he was preparing for this one hour of TV.</s>STEPHEN COLBERT, HOST, "THE LATE SHOW": We've been working so hard, so very hard to get the show ready for you. And I have to say, as long as I have nine months to make one hour of TV, I could do this forever. With this show, as many people have asked, with this show, I begin the search for the real Stephen Colbert. I just hope I don't find him on Ashley Madison.</s>STELTER: Obviously setting his character from Comedy Central, figuring out the real him. I'm curious to see how long he can keep that going, that idea he's searching for the real Colbert. But it certainly worked last night. And by the way, he still did a pretty traditional monologue. People wondered if he was going to blow up the format of late night. Maybe at a time when everything feels like it's changing in TV, it's nice to have some things stay the same. There's the desk, the monologue. Yes, it is on the left side, that was a change, but if that's what passes for change in late-night, some things are definitely staying the same.</s>ROMANS: He appeals to millennial fans. There have been some people brought up on news, quite frankly, knowing the Jon Stewart, the Stephen Colbert take on things, how is he going to break through when he is not his full conservative bombastic other self?</s>STELTER: It seems to me he wants to show some seriousness, even though there's the requisite silliness of late-night. Have some serious conversations. We see that with bookings this week, the CEO of Uber. With Jeb Bush last night, they had some fun. They pretended to prepare for a mock debate with Donald Trump. But there were also some relatively tough questions. Here's one of their exchanges.</s>JEB BUSH (R), PRESIDENTIAL CANDIDATE: I've been using Jeb since 1994.</s>COLBERT: Yes.</s>BUSH: It connotes excitement. It connotes --</s>COLBERT: Jeb! How many of us, when we got excited about things, didn't just go, "Jeb!"</s>BUSH: All in Florida, they do, when they see me, most of them, either out of happiness or deep anger.</s>STELTER: It's interesting, at one point Colbert used his own brother to say to Jeb Bush, we know you love your brother, but how do you differ from him politically?</s>BERMAN: There could be news, Thursday night Joe Biden is going on the show. Joe Biden will have to answer questions about whether he's running for president and he more pull some weight than he has today.</s>STELTER: I have to imagine that if you're Joe Biden and his team, why would you agree to appear on the new Colbert show if you're not planning on making some news or at least intending to keep stirring the pot.</s>BERMAN: Because it's fun.</s>STELTER: That's true. That's true.</s>BERMAN: But I agree that something will happen.</s>STELTER: It was sort of a relatively late booking. They had mostly firmed up the plan for the week then they added Biden. I'll definitely be watching on Thursday to see what he says. By the way, Colbert wanted Clinton for this first show, wanted Hillary Clinton. She passed. She went to Jimmy Fallon's show instead. She'll be on "The Tonight Show" instead. We're seeing a brand-new booking war in late-night.</s>BERMAN: All right, Brian, great to have you with us. Thank you so much.</s>ROMANS: Let's look at what's coming up on "NEW DAY" this morning. Alisyn Camerota joins us now. Hi, Alison.</s>ALISYN CAMEROTA, CNN ANCHOR: As you know, Hillary Clinton apologizes. Our political pundits will be here to tell us whether that puts the e- mail questions to rest finally. And Chris Cuomo may weigh in on that as well. Also, Donald Trump is speaking about the migrant crisis in Europe. We will get his solution to that this morning. Also, violent crime is up in New York City. Who is to blame? According to the former New York City police commissioner, Ray Kelly, it is the mayor's fault. Well, we have both the mayor and Ray Kelly on NEW DAY live with us this morning. So that ought to be interesting. So we'll bring you all of that when we see you in about 16 minutes.</s>ROMANS: All right, thank you so much for that. Thousands of migrants pouring into Europe, governments split over exactly what to do. The European Union is meeting right now as this crisis unfolds. We've got live team coverage next.