Stephen Colbert clearly did his homework before inviting Emma Stone onto his US talk show.
The Late Show host interviewed Emma 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, Emma had revealed her dream of one day competing on the quiz show.
“Emma Stone, welcome to Jeopardy!” Stephen 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.” (The host’s public passion for the Lord of the Rings saga is well-known.) Emma then correctly answered: “Who is Tolkien?”
“It was rumorued that the crime rate dropped dramatically during their 1964 appearance on The Ed Sullivan Show,” Stephen asked Emma for her second question, to which she correctly responded: “Who are The Beatles?”
The actor also identified whose “hip gyrations” on Ed Sullivan were deemed “too sexual” in 1957, by naming Elvis Presley. In fact, Emma got only two out of seven questions wrong.
Emma 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.
The Oscar winner 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 Stephen 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.