11 Things You Didn't Know About Stephen Colbert

When Peter Jackson was making The Hobbit, he knew he absolutely had to work in a cameo for the biggest Tolkien nerd in the world. After all, Jackson has said of Colbert, "I have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life." So he invited Stephen, along with his wife and kids, down to New Zealand to shoot a scene for The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug.

You can see Colbert make a ridiculously brief appearance as a Laketown spy in the film. He doesn't have any lines, yet for a longtime Tolkien nerd to be able to walk around in this universe, and to become a canonical part of The Hobbit, it must have been incredible. It's not just Stephen in there, either. The two boys who run by are his sons, Peter and John Colbert, and his wife Evelyn McGee-Colbert makes an appearance as well. 

According to Jackson, Colbert was as excited on set as you would imagine. “He reverts into being about 14 years old," Jackson said. "I showed him around our props storage rooms. He was just like a kid, racing forward and photographing and posing next to different statues and props. He’s an uber fan.” 

His obsession with The Hobbit wouldn't stop there, and the following year, Colbert actually interviewed Smaug on his show.