Stephen Colbert clearly did his homework before inviting Emma Stone onto his program.
The “Late Show” host interviewed Stone on Tuesday about her Oscar-nominated performance in “Poor Things,” only to surprise her with a homemade version of “Jeopardy.”
Just a few weeks ago, Stone had revealed her dream of one day competing on the quiz show.
“Emma Stone, welcome to Jeopardy!” Colbert announced as his band played a version of the “Jeopardy” theme song.
The first of his “Late Night”-themed questions: “Stephen Colbert is such a fan of this author’s work, he aired his concerns with Peter Jackson about the Elves of Mirkwood.” (Colbert’s public passion for Jackson’s “The Lord of the Rings” saga is well-known.) Stone correctly answered, “Who is Tolkien?”
“It was rumored that the crime rate dropped dramatically during their Feb. 9, 1964 appearance on ‘The Ed Sullivan Show,’” Colbert asked Stone for her second question. Again Stone gave the right answer: “Who are The Beatles?”
The actor also identified whose “hip gyrations” on “Ed Sullivan” were deemed “too sexual” in 1957, by naming Elvis Presley. Stone got only two out of seven questions wrong.
Stone revealed her obsession with the game show earlier this month, describing her nightly viewings and yearly applications to become a contestant on Variety’s “Awards Circuit Podcast.”
She reiterated on Tuesday, however, that the show’s “Celebrity” version doesn’t interest her.
Stone explained that she wants to be chosen as a contestant for “actually having the brains to be on the show,” before clarifying: “Not that ‘Celebrity Jeopardy’ people don’t have the brains, because I’ve seen some really impressive candidates.”
“This might be because I didn’t really graduate from high school and I didn’t go to college, and I like knowing I passed the test,” she added to Colbert. “This is my degree.”
The actor recently received two Oscar nominations for “Poor Things” in the Best Actress and Best Picture categories — she also produced the film — and became only the second woman after Frances McDormand to score nods in both brackets in the same year.