Quantcast

The DNAinfo archives brought to you by WNYC.
Read the press release here.

Colbert Clashes With Letterman's BFF Sandwich Maker Over Missing Tomatoes

By Nicole Levy | January 8, 2016 5:06pm
 Hello Deli owner Rupert Jee got into some trouble with Stephen Colbert over the
Hello Deli owner Rupert Jee got into some trouble with Stephen Colbert over the "Late Show" host's namesake sandwich.
View Full Caption
DNAinfo/Nicole Levy

No one misses David Letterman ... except perhaps Rupert Jee.

Miffed about the absence of tomato in his B.L.T., new host of "The Late Show" Stephen Colbert toted a blow-up photograph of his sandwich to its place of origin, Hello Deli, to give shop-owner Rupert Jee a piece of his mind.

"It's bacon, lettuce, tomato — the recipe is right in the name! The lack of tomato isn't just an insult to centuries of B.L.T. craftsmen who died toasting bread at Gettysburg; it's an insult to me personally," Colbert said, in segment on Thursday's night's episode.

"Stephen, I'm sorry," Jee said.

"I wish sorry put tomato on a sandwich," Colbert retorted.

Regular appearances on "The Late Show" during the David Letterman era made a tourist destination out of Jee's business, which is next door to the Ed Sullivan Theater where the CBS show is filmed.

After Letterman's departure, many wondered if Colbert would continue the tradition of featuring the deli, though Jee preferred not to speculate on the issue during an interview with DNAinfo prior to Colbert's debut in September 2015.

But Colbert had other gripes with Hello Deli. The comedian objected to "The Colbert," a sammie that Jee renamed in his honor in August, a month before the debut of the new "Late Show." The sandwich had once been called "The Paul Shaffer," after the former "Late Show" musical director.

"What is it about me that reminds you of Paul Shaffer?" Colbert asked a distressed-looking Jee, who denied any correlation.

Jee proffered a bag of chips as consolation.

"Okay, I forgive you," Colbert said before ushering his camera team out the door.