Stephen Colbert Just Lost That Beard on an Emmy Bet

Stephen Colbert just made good on an Emmy bet—over his beard. Appearing on Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday, Colbert said he doesn't miss hosting late night—"I have an opportunity to not think about the news every day, and I took it"—then let Kimmel shave off his now-Emmy-winning facial hair, fulfilling a promise to his wife, Evie, who "hates" the beard and made him promise to shave if he won. The pair joked about their off-camera "beard-on-beard" kiss at Sunday's Emmys, the shrinking ranks of late-night hosts, and the 40 suits CBS gave Colbert on the occasion of his forced departure—which are now sitting in storage, notes the Hollywood Reporter. Colbert stayed mostly mum on his upcoming Lord of the Rings film, then closed by handing Kimmel a sentimental prop: the Captain America shield long displayed on both The Colbert Report and The Late Show. More, per the New York Times, Variety, and Rolling Stone:

• On looking happier: "Like I don't drink a cup of poison every day? Exactly," Colbert said. "A good part of the job is, as I remember it, to be lowered like carbon rods into a radioactive pool every day. And then to be pulled out and put in front of a camera. And to radiate it back at the audience at a non-lethal rad level."
• On whether anyone from CBS congratulated him on his seven Emmys: "I am not familiar with that organization, thank you for asking."
• On whether he ever thinks about late-night TV: "Nope!"
• On that deal about the beard: "I was so excited to win because Evie hates my beard. So much. And the kiss count has gone way down. She warned me, if you grow a beard, the kiss count's going to go way down. Smoochy time, much shorter because it's prickly. But I said, 'If I win an Emmy she has to kiss me because the camera will be on us.' I also told her that if I won I would shave it off." Kimmel was happy to assist.
• On working with son Peter McGee on LOTR: "He understands screenwriting better than I do. I'm there just because I'm incredibly obsessive about the Lord of the Rings. It's fantastic. What could be better?"