What's really at stake when someone offers you a slice of presumably delicious cheesecake? For presidential candidates, the fear of a badly timed photo of actually eating and enjoying that slice of cheesecake is just enough to inspire them to turn such a generous offer down outright. Hillary Clinton, having recently turned down a slice of her own at noted Brooklyn joy supplier Junior's Cheesecake, hit Carnegie Deli with Stephen Colbert on Monday to clear the air about the politics of eating and the increasingly tense race ahead.
"I know that former President [Bill] Clinton, your husband, is a vegan," Colbert said at the top of their seemingly food-centered discussion. "Is he going to give you grief on this? He's not a smug vegan? I think legally that makes him not a vegan." According to Hillary, Bill Clinton is actually a "very open-minded vegan" and would not judge her for partaking in some Carnegie Deli meat consumption.
Shifting their discussion back to food in general, Hillary talked about the perils of eating anything (vegan or otherwise) in front of the photo-hungry press. "It's awkward eating in front of the press," she told Colbert. "They could get a funny shot. Something could drop out of your mouth. It could smear on your face. Anything that makes you look silly is great." What do you think, John Kasich? Do you agree with this assessment?
Colbert politely demonstrated for Hillary how best to consume a spot of cheesecake in front of the dubious press, a demonstration only slightly balanced by his sprinkling of actual political questions. When asked to name any similarities between herself and Donald Trump, Hillary proposed that it was simply too soon to tell. "I'm just not sure yet," she said. "I'm just not sure what I have in common with him." Tuesday, of course, is a huge day for the remaining presidential candidates for reasons having very little to do with cheesecake.
Dedicated viewers may have noticed a slight change of pace for Monday's Late Show, as the episode marked the first under the guidance of new showrunner Chris Licht. Licht, as reported by Variety, is a former CBS News VP perhaps most known for his work on CBS This Morning. The slightly altered Late Show opening, which on Monday kicked off right away with the video intro instead of Colbert’s usual lead-in greeting, is the first of a variety of changes the restructured team is set to test in the weeks and months ahead.
