As Ed Helms tells the GQ Comedy Issue, Stephen Colbert has always been a bubbling font of comedic wisdom. Steven Tip #1: Give yourself over to the dark side. Explains Helms, “When I started on The Daily Show, I was so nervous that I asked him if he had any pointers. He said, ‘You’re gonna be great. Oh, and don’t forget to hang your soul up in the closet and come back for it later.’â€
Not that Colbert was only concerned with surrendering to the ravenous maw of show business. He also played some mean invisible brass. “Whenever we were backstage before a taping, Steve would do this pantomime. He would pretend he was the trumpet player in the band, getting ready for his part in The Daily Show theme song,†Helms says. “He’s miming that he’s warming up his trumpet, blowing in the spit valve, getting ready to go. And then he raises it to his mouth right when the guitar part kicks in. He would take down his fake trumpet and act surprised, like, ‘What the fuck? Where’s the trumpet part?’ I must’ve seen him do that 300 times, and it always made me laugh.â€