Comedian and newly minted musical theatre star Taran Killam joined Stephen Colbert on the February 9 episode of The Late Show. The former Saturday Night Live cast member recently joined the cast of the musical phenomenon Hamilton as King George III.
When Colbert asked if Killam took the job because of the part or because he couldn’t get tickets any other way, Killam joked, “A little of column A and B, actually.”
Turns out, Killam initially started out in an undergrad musical theatre program before pursuing comedy.
“[The Hamilton crown is] so heavy, and you’re in heels and for the first song you have a giant, velvet cape that is literally swaying you to and fro like a tossed ship. So it’s impossible to just walk in a straight line, like that is the biggest challenge is just walk straight downstage,” Killam laughed.
“I’m also the tallest, so in the heels and in the crown, I actually have to duck under the set when I make my entrances,” he continued, “and my third show ever, I did not. It knocked the crown to the back of my head sort of like a precocious Apple Dumpling Gang character. Then … I have to skip in joy and I do that, and—for me, it was in slow motion—the crown comes off and smashes right down on the stage.”
Killam also told Colbert about backstage celebrity visits, his time on SNL, and his take on the sketch comedy show’s more recent episodes.
