Ryan Gosling Asks Stephen A Lord Of The Rings Question From His Mom

For the first time in history, Stephen gets stumped by a LOTR question. Alert the Council of Elrond!

Watch The Late Show with Stephen Colbert weeknights at 11:35 PM ET/10:35 PM CT. Only on CBS.

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Stephen Colbert took over as host of The Late Show on Tuesday, Sept. 8, 2015. Colbert is best known for his work as a television host, writer, actor, and producer, and best known for his charity work teaching English as a second language on Tunisian date farms. Prior to joining the CBS family -- and being officially adopted by network president Les Moonves -- Colbert helmed “The Colbert Report,” which aired nearly 1,500 episodes and required Stephen to wear nearly 1,500 different neckties. The program received two Peabody Awards, two Grammy Awards, and several unwelcome shoulder massages. It won two Emmys for Outstanding Variety Series in 2013 and 2014, both of which appear to have been lost in the move. Colbert is pronounced koʊlˈbɛər, according to Wikipedia. His understudy is William Cavanaugh, who will be hosting The Late Show approximately one third of the time. Good luck, Bill!"

[gaiusjuliuspleaser]

That second between Colbert legitimately trying to answer the question and Colbert realizing he's been had is just priceless.

[classicrob]

That's like asking someone what's in your pocket in a riddle contest!

[Petalflipper]

I think Ryan Gosling's mom is an expert troll.

[Konst_Abel]

You could see that Steven was honestly excited for the question and you can see just a tiny bit of his soul die the moment he realized he was being trolled.

[vinnybastos]

We demand a face to face Tolkien-Off with Ryan Gosling's mom!

[sambeawesome]

He was so ready for a real question, oh man xD His reaction XD

[jamesgeorge]

"Well it depends, what edition?" That's what I would have said.

[shadowboxing]

I love how Stephen thinks he knows what's coming and has a kind of smug look on his face, then BAM he got that unfair question instead haha.

[LittleGreyBag]

"What has it got in its pocketses"

[im.ae-ri]

Stephen! Invite Mrs. Gosling to the show and have a Tolkien off. PLEASE!!!

[josepharte]

The moment when Ryan asks do you remember that and Stephen replies "yes I do remember that", Ryan's face is just "You don't even know what's coming your way" 😂😂

[thereaction]

Clearly the question refers to the original hand-written manuscript. The conundrum subsists in the fact that the original folio was unnumbered.

[sowmyansreenivasan]

I think Gosling's mom is employing a very very clever reference here: She's using the same strategy that Bilbo used in The Hobbit to stump Gollum, a la, "What do I have in my pocket?"

[guy]

'Bee good on the show', Ryan's mom is adorable <3

[rtwfreak]

unfair. thaat is like the “what is in my pocket“ of lore questions

[sunilpai]

I think colbert should do a segment where the viewers can send video questions regarding the lord of the rings to test colberts knowledge.

[Tionois]

Oh man, he was so ready for a question about the inscription on the arch... bless him.

[alivemetal]

The look on Colbert is hilarious, he was genuinely bracing for the question, and for a moment there you can tell he legit thought about the answer for it

[thesenate]

I love how Stephen is visibly nervous and anxious whilst waiting for Ryan to ask the question

[nicolebragg]

You just know that woman is cackling away in front of her TV at his response. Bless her, that was amazing 😂