The biggest (uncomfortable) laugh in the segment came early on, when Colbert asked about the reception "Fire and Fury" has received:
Colbert: "Are you in any way surprised by the splash this book has made?"
Wolff: "Of course. I mean—"
Colbert: "You are surprised?"
Wolff: "I am surprised."
Colbert: "You described the president as mentally unstable, unfit for the office! Basically kind of gibbering to his cheeseburger when he goes to bed. And he's got the launch codes! Why wouldn't that cause a splash?"
Wolff: "Because I thought we knew this."
Later in the segment, after Wolff talked about piecing together "Fire and Fury" from various competing narratives served up by White House insiders, Colbert talked about his discomfort while reading the book—and asked Wolff if he'd release interview recordings:
Colbert: "I deeply conflicted when I read this. ... As a comedian, sure, I'd love all this to be true so I can make jokes about it. But as a citizen, I don't want any of it to be true. And, you don't have sourcing, at least not listed, for everything you've got in here, so, how much of it should I believe?"
Wolff: "You should believe all of it. That's the alarming thing. That this is all true."
Colbert: "But I do have to exercise some judgement. And you say you have recordings for a lot of these interviews here. Why not release the recordings so you can slap down the character attacks against you by the White House?"
Wolff: "Because I'm not in the recording—I'm in the writing business."
Colbert also made a futile attempt to elicit a positive note from Wolff about the Trump White House:
Colbert: "Anything when you were there that gave you hope? Like, 'Oh, they do this well.'"
Wolff [rolling his eyes]: "Hmmmm."
Colbert: "People gotta go to sleep after this."
Wolff. "Nothing."
