
Transcript
Felipe Torres Medina on Comedy, Immigration & Writing for Stephen Colbert (Hour 2)
Nite Lite with Pete Schwaba and Greg Bach · Wed Jun 3, 2026
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So, so happy you are a part of it today with us.
Folks, we had a really good first hour, had a lot of fun, but we're looking forward to a fantastic second hour.
We'll be getting to your comments on our question of the night, which we'll get to in a moment, but then we'll be also talking to, we'll be also, hmm.
English, interesting.
We'll also be speaking with our guest tonight, Felipe Torres Medina, an award-winning humorist and writer.
He's an author and he was a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
We'll be talking about his experience there as well as his book, America, Let Me In, Choose Your Immigration Story.
That's all coming up in just a little bit.
And then we'll wrap everything up with the nightcap.
It's gonna be a lot of fun.
We're gonna have a good time here on this Wednesday edition of Nightlight.
Don't forget, folks, tomorrow we're gonna have ourselves the Nightlight Movie Club, and this time we're talking James Bond.
This time we're talking the 2006 Casino Royale, starring Mr. Daniel Craig, the first and controversially blonde Bond.
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So watch the movie.
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at your summer multi-state text to win contest.
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Dom?
Let's talk about the question.
Okay, question.
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And yeah, so let's kick it off, Pete.
What about you?
What is a natural disaster that scares you?
freezing to death, and I knew somebody who, I don't know if you guys remember this storm like in 2010 or 2009, where people in Chicago
I was reading about this because I still lived in sunny California.
I was reading about this horrible storm.
People left their cars on Lakeshore Drive.
One guy who was a family friend walked out of a bar because he wanted to see this phenomenon and drowned in snow.
What?
Yes.
You get disoriented.
It's like flying through dark.
And I think either a blizzard at the extremes, a horrible blizzard or a terrible wildfire, both awful ways to go.
It's fine.
I'm like, okay, cool.
Can you guys just invest like maybe something for like one plow for the freeways?
But yeah, I mean, that's absolutely craziness.
And what's interesting, you say that drowning in snow reminds me of a statistic that our old friend, Brittany Merleau gave me when we were talking about snowfall, which was one foot of snow equals one inch of rain.
So when you think of something like, when you think of something like four or five feet of snow, that's a lot happening right there.
Well, I first off I was a part of that blizzard in 2009 and yes, it was very very it was bad It was very bad from what I remember, but I would say I was gonna say wildfire, but I think I have to also go tsunami too tsunamis really freak me out because there's so much like
Nowadays, there's so much coverage of them, so I see them, you see them all the time.
They're just so scary.
I've never had to deal with one, but I would be really freaked out if I ever had to.
It's,
I did laugh when Dom said I was part of a blizzard, which I was going to say you were a snowflake or what?
You worked a Dairy Queen?
Oh, yeah, I just take the thing and just turn it upside down.
Greg, what about you?
I just said it.
Oh, that was your okay.
Yeah.
I'm making a comment of the residual.
Oh, no, I agree.
And Tsunami is terrible too, because
I think I was in my 30s before I really knew what that was and it was
I like the rave environment of a good storm But at least I know it's coming days out.
Very true.
Yeah.
Yeah, we also have Karen from Racine says wildfires are very scary We got oh, let's see we got John from Madison Texan says for Pete and Greg One of which would be rough in the heating climate polar slide sloshing the big ponds
Yeah.
He's going to talk.
He's going to, he's going to recite his poetry.
So.
Prepare to be dazzled Sidney politics on the live stream says I used to think the movie twister was about a sentiment a sentient tornado that was attacking people and That set the stage for my fear for tornadoes.
Happy new year.
I Saw it.
I saw a twister in the theater when it first came out the original and I will say this it was so well done with the sound I thought a tornado was gonna rip the roof off of the actual theater.
It was so
Steve, Stevie wonders, real name, Steve Lent, by the way.
All right.
Coming up after the break, we're going to be talking to Felipe Torres Medina.
He's an award winning humorist, author and former writer for the late show with Colbert talking about his book, his time on the show and what's going on in his world.
Very excited to talk to him again, but that's all coming up right after the break.
So don't go anywhere.
You are listening and or watching nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
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Stay close.
The number is the same 855-752-4842-855-757.
Leave a comment on the live stream.
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Still ahead, we'll be getting into the nightcap where we will read more of your text messages and talk about.
what we have learned.
So stick around for that.
But right now, very excited to bring on our next guest, actually, our first guest for the evening.
He is an award-winning humorist.
He is an author of the book, America Let Me In, A Choose Your Own Immigration Story.
And he is also a former writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
He joins us via the livestream.
Felipe Torres Medina is here.
Good evening, Felipe.
How are you tonight?
Hi, guys.
I'm great.
I'm happy to be here.
Excellent, excellent.
I talked to you, I believe last year when your book was coming out, it was great to talk to you about that.
And when everything went down with, I don't know if you heard about what happened, I'm sure you did, with the late show, Stephen Colbert, of course.
But I wanted to have you on the show to
I mean, they just told you with vacation, didn't they?
OK, sorry, buddy.
OK.
Why isn't my key work?
But I wanted to have you on to talk about this because it's still very fresh, but it's kind of like an unknown situation for a lot of people with regard to what exactly happened.
But I mean, you were a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
How long did you work there?
I worked at the Late Show since October 2019.
So about six longish years, like six years and a little bit.
And that, that time you were a writer and I mean, I, I mean.
I actually saw you on the show.
He had you out as a guest to talk about your book.
It was great.
And it was like, after we had you on the show, I'm always like, I'm like, Felipe, see you do stuff on TV and whatnot.
And it's that weird thing of like, they're on your show once and you feel like I'm in their fan club now.
But, you know, can you, I mean, I know it's, I know it's fresh and I'm sure it doesn't, this whole situation is terrible, but can you kind of give us a brief overview of just the.
Your experience with what happened with regard to the cancellation finding out to where you are maybe today and you know how you are dealing with it if you will
Well, I mean the the reason we were canceled and you know you can Choose to Read into a narrative or not like I mean the official reason the show was canceled is that apparently it was no longer making money for CBS and
And that is the line, you know a purely financial decision is what they have said and repeatedly claim was the reason for the cancellation and I don't like I I will stick to the line the line that was the official line But you know people are entitled to their opinions and to have their thoughts based on the actions of the network and the
New owners of the network, but I do think like at no point was it communicated to me that it was for any other reason and at no point was it You know, I was just an employee at the show.
I
like I was not part of privy to any of these conversations in terms of like how it has been I mean it was You know, the show is great.
The show was an incredible show the show employed 200 plus people in the city and the state of New York and Jersey, you know the
New York metropolitan area and we had The best in the business I will say like truly the best in the business and every Like at every part of the operation, you know So it's it was incredible to be able to work with people who were truly the best and everyone from props to interns to
graphics and editors and you know and then there were the writers but you know that we were just a little part of a beautiful beautiful machine that was making incredible stuff every day which to me is the the most cool and beautiful thing that we were doing is that it was every dang day we were putting on a little miracle that was the show that was like perfectly polished and
And sometimes I'm imperfectly polished, which kind of gave it a little bit of comedic sheen.
So yeah, it was great.
And obviously Stephen, who is like, like the best person.
Yeah.
Felipe, it's so great to have you here.
I have questions about the actual gig itself.
I always found that to be like probably in show business, one of the most intimidating jobs.
You have to come up with stuff every day, monologue, sketches, like it's a breakneck pace.
So, but I'll get this question out of the way to stick with what Greg's point was about the cancellation.
What did that do to the writer's room, the mood?
When you guys knew you show up to this job you love, what was the mood like after you found out?
And was it hard to be funny?
I don't know.
I mean, surely there were moments where like we were sad or personally I was sad and obviously it was a shock because the show, it was number one in ratings.
Like in its category, you know, we were beating Kimmel, we were beating Fallon.
um we were uh so like shock obviously was the first emotion i do think when you're doing a show every day and you're at that level of professionalism you kind of don't have time to feel too much uh and so we were like
As you said, it's a breakneck pace.
We were doing so, so much, and so much was happening in the world.
And the mandate of the show, as Steven always said, was to talk about what people were talking about.
And so it was fast, but it was, we didn't have time really to commiserate too much.
We just wanted to have fun.
And I think maybe that was the point, to have as much fun as we could with the time that we had.
And I think we did that.
I mean, just as a, as a viewer, it seemed like it was a blast from all the things and we'll talk more.
I want to talk more about that on the other side of the break, but we're going to take a really quick, quick moment to pay some bills.
We are speaking with humorous author, comedian Felipe Torres Medina here on Nightlight with Peach Schwabba and Greg Bach.
Stick around.
We'll be right back.
Don't go anywhere.
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I'm Greg Bach, too.
Sorry, I'm on the show as well.
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We'll be speaking to Logan Rogie, senior communication specialist with Travel Wisconsin to talk about what to do, where to do it, and Wisconsin in the summertime.
And then we'll, of course, be doing the Nightlight Movie Club.
We'll be talking about the 2006.
Casino Royale, not the 1970s version, but that's going to be in the second hour in our nightlight movie clubs.
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I can talk.
I swear to God, everyone out there, I know how to speak.
It's just, it's been a day.
You're doing great, man.
Thank you.
Thank
There was so much energy in that you're doing great.
But right now we are talking to Felipe Torres Medina.
He's an award-winning humorist.
And that's how you know someone is not just funny, but smart when they have the word humorist.
next to their name.
He is an author of the book, America Let Me In, A Choose Your Own Immigration Story, which we're going to talk about in just a few moments here.
And he was also a writer for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
And one last thing I wanted to ask with regard to this show, I really think folks should go out there to YouTube and watch The Best of the Worst, because something you said earlier, Felipe, is you get a very good sense of that, from that episode,
the entire family of the show, the work that everyone puts into it.
And I thought that that episode was really great because, you know, he was paying tribute to all of you.
Well, totally making fun of everybody, but it was great to see just who is part of that family.
But the question I have for you as a writer, when it's time to write the final episode or come up with the idea or like start to craft that, what does that look like?
Is it just a whiteboard and just a thousand ideas?
Or was it well thought about in
Stevens head and he said this is what we're doing.
I Think
bit of both I think once we knew that we were getting Canceled and we knew that we were gonna have to do a final show There was a little bit of like blue sky conversation like what would you like to see?
You know, there was a lot of pitches that we I mean each one of us There were 14 about 12 to 14 writers and then there's like
Producer writers writer producers and stuff like that.
I think it's one of us like had several stabs of like the idea of like what do you want to what do you want to see before the show ends and A lot of that stuff ended on the show a lot of stuff stuff didn't end on the show some stuff ended on the final episode some stuff ended on other episodes You know as we got closer to the end and of course Stephen had an idea At some point Stephen like had an idea of what that
Finale should be and what it should look like so it was a little bit of both and you know that was like I think what made it so fun is that we were all like It was complicated because it was like we were thinking about the end in the downtime kind of that we had but you know We still had to do a show every day.
you know and we still had to like do today's show So that was a huge commitment on both parts from like Stephen and the writers and and everyone else on the show really of like
Okay, we're trying to do this thing, but also we gotta get we gotta have jokes for today You know and we have a second act that's comedy for like next week and we have to fill that somehow so It was it was really cool, but yeah, it was a little bit about that guess what I'm trying to say
Felipe late night TV that's just it's it's part of America it we all grew up watching Carson Letterman and now Stephen Colbert
Talk about if you would your background what led you to a job like I said the pace I was always I'm a writer myself, but I was always intimidated I don't know how you guys do that coming up with stuff every day the monologue jokes and all of that What was your background and what got you to the late show with Stephen Colbert?
so I Did not grow up with Carson because I was born in Columbia in South America and so I
We sometimes got Letterman, you know, and it
kind of like the show that we, like the late show.
It was kind of interesting that the one I grew up watching was the late show and it's the one I ended up writing for.
So we would get the late show with David Letterman and it was kind of like when I was sick and I couldn't sleep, you know, I would like turn on my TV with the volume really low and TV in my room and watch that.
And then I like did like,
Eventually we watched SNL.
We got SNL in Colombia, but it wasn't live and it wasn't on Saturdays, so it was more like Tuesday night three months later Rather than Saturday night live Not
Yeah, exactly and it was on Tuesday.
So it was funny and so I I think that was like my first exposure to like update
You know was my first exposure to like topical jokes like that now there there were some like satirical shows in columbia that were very good that um eventually stopped and so i think that that was also part of like my background uh but then once i moved to the states my background i mostly i trained at the upright citizens gate which is like oh yeah one of the biggest improv and sketch theaters in new york which is founded by uh second city people basically and so uh that was my background you know i would
you know, once I moved to the States, I consumed all the shows and growing up as a teenager in Columbia, I would watch the Colbert Report and the Daily Show on cable.
So I think it's, you know, the traditional late night, we kind of got Letterman a little bit, then I watched Update, then I graduated into the Report and the Daily and then I moved here and then it was like, well, I watch all of it, you know?
And yeah, so that's my background.
of.
Yeah, it was really, really exciting.
that leads me to my next question here or just my next point is the fact that you know you are from Colombia you immigrated to America and the reason why you came on to our show last year was to talk about your book America let me in a choose your own immigration story which I've now listened to twice it is a phenomenal book it is so funny but it's also so meticulous in the journey not just the immigration journey but the immigration journey
for this person and the immigration journey for that person having to do with your status.
Can you talk more about, you know, what led you to, I mean, to talk about your own immigration story is wonderful, but to do what you did, which was to really do some hardcore research into it, what led you to say, I want to write this book instead of the typical memoir.
I have always thought that my life is not that interesting.
So I was like, I don't want to just write a memoir because that's not that interesting.
You know, like Malala should write a memoir and she did.
But you know, like that's the people who, whose memoirs I would read and I would be interested in.
And I was like, I'm like, you know, like, you know, I have overcome some kind of difficulty, but you know, I'm not going to compare myself to anyone who like,
who actually has had to overcome things in life and has a story that is good and should everyone should know about.
And so what I was interested in was the fact that like I had to, I think the most interesting thing about my life, especially as an immigrant in the States, was that I had to explain my very well-meaning, mostly liberal friends in New York, like Bernie voters, kind of like in 2016.
that the entire premise of their immigration system, you know, when Trump was going out there and being like, they're not sending their best, people were like, well, they should just do this.
And I was like, well, they can't, you know, you know, there's no right way to come to America.
And also Bernie at the time in 2016 was talking about getting rid of the H1B program, but not suggesting the H1B visa, which is the normal work visa, but not suggesting an alternative, you know, while he was campaigning.
I was like, what are we doing?
You know like what is the trump is saying this and in one end of the political spectrum bernie is saying this on the other end of the political spectrum And everyone has an opinion on immigration, but no one knows what they're talking about You know and so to me that was like a dominant thought Basically since I moved to the states And so when it came to writing the book I was like well, how can I write a story that?
actually makes me laugh, but actually tells
people informs people of their own immigration system.
And so I found this kind of like multiple paths kind of form where I could create multiple characters living different kinds of visas and different kinds of immigration journeys.
And that is how that's how we did it.
That's how I ended up going into this.
Our guest is Felipe Torres Medina.
He is the author of America Let Me In, a Choose Your Immigration Story, and he is a former writer for the Late Show with Stephen Colbert.
Let's talk about the writing process, if you don't mind, Felipe.
We were talking about this breakneck pace of jokes and monologue jokes and sketches, and then you write a book.
which is a lot more, I would assume, tedious or maybe something you just weren't used to writing.
What was more fulfilling and what was more fun in terms of writing for you?
I think they were both incredibly fulfilling.
I think the biggest thing that late night writing does for a writer is just speed and the ability to just write and throw jokes away and kill your darlings and be like,
joke was good, but it's not good enough.
or it's not for today, goodbye.
And I used a lot of that muscle and those skills when writing the book because in the end, the book was following the same format as a show like ours did, which was you get a data point and then you find a way to enjokeify, to say something funny out of that.
Now, I added a layer of comedy and stories to frame all these data points.
you know, but a lot of the book, there's certain parts of the book that are just like explainers on different kinds of visas when I'm not telling a story.
And those were just like, that's the same mechanism I did to write monologue jokes for the show.
You know, here's a data point, then a joke.
Here's the data point, then a joke.
And so in that sense, it was very similar.
The thing that was
Crazy is how much slower the pace of publishing is and so I Remember being like, okay.
Well, I guess I wrote this joke and now I have to wait for my editor to read it and You know, it'll be three four weeks and that's fine like I wasn't expecting them to read it faster They had other projects to work on but it was like but why isn't
Why isn't one of the funniest people live Stephen Colbert telling me that this joke works 40 minutes after I wrote it?
This makes no sense.
That's
That's amazing.
Yeah, the break next versus the page, it's got to be a very weird place to go.
And we don't have enough time anyways, but I'm not going to ask the question.
So what's next?
Because I'm sure you're just getting yourself in a place of making those next moves.
But I'll tell you what.
When you're doing something next, when something comes up, you got something, a new gig, whether it's a book, a show, whatever, please come back and talk to us about this because it's always great to talk to you.
And I really look forward to seeing what you do in the future, Felipe.
I would love to come back and thanks so much for those nice words.
Felipe Torres Medina is...
a writer, author of America Let Me In, a Choose Your Immigration Story.
He has been our guest this evening.
We're going to take a really quick break when we come back.
We're going to go into the nightcap, wrap things up about our thoughts, as well as your text messages on our question.
What is the natural disaster that scares you the most?
But you stick right here, because you are listening and are watching Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Mock here on the Sydney Network.
It's time to wind it down.
Let's take a moment to look back and ask, what did we learn today?
This is Nightcap with Greg and Pete.
All right, folks, welcome back to Nightlight with Pete Schwabba and Greg Bach here on the Civic Media Network.
You can always get in touch 855-752-484-2855-75 Civic.
Leave a comment on that there.
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We are officially in the nightcap where we, I don't know why I said it louder and louder right there.
Let's go.
It's
I'm wearing my onesie with the poop chute.
All right, folks, we're gonna get to some more of your text messages and thoughts on our social media as well as the text line.
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But let's get to more thoughts on the question of the night.
What natural disaster scares you the most?
Dom, who do we have left on the text line?
Alright, cool.
We got Nick from Marshall saying, of course wildfires and horrible blizzards, but I think active volcanoes would be the worst or tsunamis.
We got John from Madison saying, to clarify from his previous text in the first hour, since I was texting while driving, when the polar caps slide out of position.
What else we got here we got Brett from Brown Deer saying you can't outrun a
pyroclastic flow from a volcano.
That hot ash is coming at at you over 100 miles an hour and will cause your lungs to explode from the 1500 degree heat.
Okay.
Oh.
along in dropping into a gigantic sinkhole, natural or manmade from messing with the environment.
Yes.
There you go, there you go.
And we got Whistler from Rich and Center saying, worse feeling sometimes spirits from the large cemetery east of me.
Shiver me timbers, I don't know.
Alright, he's a pirate.
He's a pirate.
We got Melissa from Willy Street Texan Inc says here's my ridiculous natural disaster is a my ridiculous natural disaster is a zombie apocalypse Thankfully, someone gift me the handbook to survive it.
Oh, I feel like
I learned that this show is awesome.
We roll with the punches.
We have a great time and it's really fun.
And the people listening and, and responding is what makes me smile.
I didn't, I already knew it so much, but I needed it today.
So I'll just say that.
That's what I learned in this moment today.
All right, folks, we got to get out of here.
Don't forget after we are done, we'll be the final keyword of the day for the accelerate your summer text to win multi-state contest.
Got to have the app text in the keyword for your chance to win $100 and a Wisconsin Dells prize package plus.
You get entered into the main contest, $250 in gas, $250 in groceries, so good luck, stick around for that, and then seven more chances tomorrow.
So we'll be back tomorrow talking to Logan Roge and it's the night club.
Nightlight movie club, Casino Royale.
Let's get out of here.
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