Motormouthed satirist Stephen Colbert hardly seems intimidated by anyone—nor does he have any problems giving folks a piece of his mind.
But surprisingly, the one person who leaves him "gobsmacked" enough into modest quietude is the one man many consider his greatest onscreen pal: Jon Stewart.
In a new interview with Playboy for the mag's latest issue, the Colbert Report host reveals that, despite his seemingly tight bromance with Stewart, he remains too in awe of the Emmy-winning host to be as good a friend as he'd want.
"I would say the thing that has kept me from being as good a friend to Jon as I would like is just that I'm such a fan," the 48-year-old tells the mag. "I am gobsmacked by his abilities."
He goes on to note, however, that they do have their fair share of bonding moments.
"But that being said, we go out to dinner, and we sometimes pick up the phone just to say, ‘How are you?'" he says. "Or, ‘Do you mind if I tell you how I am? I had a s---ty week.'" (Hmmm, sounds like an old married couple to us—agree?)
No doubt, fans are hoping that Colbert's weeks on the job—crappy or not—will continue after his contract is up in 2014. But, according to the host, he's taking things a day at a time.
"I try not to think of it in terms of years," he explains. "You can't do 161 shows. It can't be done. All I can do is today and tomorrow and have some idea of what we're doing next week. That's all I can worry about."
Colbert also chatted about pundits on the other side of the political divide—namely, frenemy and fellow political hard-charger Bill O'Reilly, who Colbert says seemed shockingly out of character during his guest stint on The Colbert Report.
"He was a perfectly lovely guest, but he wouldn't be his personality," Colbert recalls. "He wasn't an unpleasant person. I have no complaints other than the fact that I booked Bill O'Reilly and I got William O'Reilly."
Given O'Reilly's typically blowhard persona, that's not necessarily a bad thing now, is it?