The Hobbit: 11 Amazing Things You Missed In The Desolation Of Smaug
3. Stephen Colbert (Of All People) Has A Cameo
One thing The Hobbit has inadvertently done is bring a lot of devout Tolkien fans out of the woodwork. Everyone loved The Lord Of The Fans, fan and non-fan alike, but the sheer division of this trilogy has led to many wearing their love of Middle Earth (or at least strong feelings for what is after all a childrens book) as a badge of honour. How else could you defend liking such a visually splendous, but narratively defunct film? Some fans, however, never made any secrets of their affections. Perhaps not incredibly well known outside of American, Stephen Colbert has become an important face in US politics, with his satirical The Colbert Report (in which he plays a right wing version of himself) growing to the point where hes been rumoured as a Presidential candidate. But on top of that, hes also a very open Tolkien nerd. The Colbert Report has plenty of moments where he goes off on one about Middle Earth (the highlights are a two part clash with James Franco), so its a nice payoff that he has a little cameo in The Desolation Of Smaug. Hidden to the extent you need to be on the lookout to have a hope of spotting him, he plays a one-eyed of the spy who forms part of the chain tracking Bard.
