Evie Colbert - More Than Late Night

Who is Evie McGee Colbert? Most known as Stephen Colbert's wife, in this episode of Lost in Jersey, we get to know the many other facets of this remarkable woman.  Evie joins us to talk about her journey from Charleston, SC, to Montclair, NJ—and how a lifelong love of the arts became a powerful tool for building community. As president and co-founder of Montclair Film, she has helped grow it into a nationally recognized cultural hub, with its annual October festival, robust year-round education programs, and now two movie theaters! Evie shares her infectious joy for family, food, and film, as well as her passion for creating spaces where authenticity and connection can thrive—both on and off screen.

Montclair Film

Does this Taste Funny? A cookbook by Stephen Colbert and Evie McGee Colbert

----podscan_aVg2AFyYZm2Tc2TctJ6r2TE54et86ldp

Follow us:   Website  |   Apple  |   Spotify |   Audible  |   Youtube  |    Youtube  |  Instagram  |   Facebook  |   Tiktok

Transcript

Meeting Evie Colbert

Speaker 1 0:00

Hi , Evie . Hi , it's nice to meet you . Nice to meet you guys . Welcome to Lost in Jersey . It's so great to have you on , Evie Colbert . Thank you so much . I'm happy to be here . I wanted to pause there when I said your name because I believe you also use your maiden name as well . Is that how ?

Speaker 3 0:22

does . What's going on ? How should we address you ? I honestly don't know who I am . You know this is sort of funny because it's Evelyn McGee . Colbert , without a hyphen , is my name , but I introduce myself sometimes as Evelyn McGee and sometimes as Evelyn Colbert , and sometimes as Evie McGee and Evie Colbert , and so I don't know who I am .

Speaker 2 0:41

You're all of those things , that's what it ? Is I'm all those people . Yes , you are yes .

Speaker 1 0:51

And you know , to that point and I think that's what this interview is about is that you are more than just the Colbert part .

Speaker 3 0:55

You've also got your own portion of your own life that is fascinating in its own , yes , well it's funny that you say that because you know , having a public husband , people write about me and I've always been so frustrated that they don't know anything about me . Like every time they write about me they're like well , she was in like strangers with candy for 10 seconds . I was like well , I just happened to do that on one afternoon . That is not who I am and what I do , you know it's just weird .

Speaker 2 1:20

It's funny that that's what it picks up , because I read that as well and I was like huh well , now I want to ask her about her acting , but like I know that you do so many things , yeah , yeah , and so , yeah , let's set the record straight .

Speaker 3 1:34

Yeah , let's do it .

Speaker 2 1:35

This is this episode . We're setting the record straight .

Speaker 3 1:38

Thank you .

Speaker 1 1:39

We're going to get to the bottom of who you are . When I moved here , one of the first things was that you lived here and we always wondered like why New Jersey , why ? But that's great .

Speaker 2 1:51

And why ?

Speaker 3 1:53

It was kind of almost an accident . So Stephen and I are both from Charleston , south Carolina . We met and got married long after we'd left there . Those were our roots . So it was not like we were New Yorkers or New Jerseyans or either one . We didn't have a stake in that fight . Well , our oldest was born in Chicago . Then we moved to the city and we had a rent stabilized apartment which

Charleston Roots to Montclair Move

Speaker 3 2:13

was unbelievable and we had this kind of pipe dream that we could live in the city . Well , as soon as that apartment was over and we couldn't stay there and we went to look for other apartments , we went oh , we cannot afford New York City , no way , no how . Second baby was on the way . So we moved for a short time up near Bronxville , new York , right outside of Bronxville , essentially the Bronx . We rented a house there and we just started looking and we were looking for what we could afford . Frankly , and at the time Montclair did not yet have the train , the direct train into Penn Station .

Speaker 3 2:49

It was about to come and we had friends from Montclair who turned us on to a house that someone was selling without a broker . So it was kind of affordable and we just snatched it up and we got really lucky because this was in 2000 . And right then is when the train came and the property values went up and Montclair kind of changed , so we got in kind of down at the wire when it was still slightly affordable . So the answer is it was because it was affordable . Yeah , but also I will say I was home with the kids .

Speaker 3 3:20

Then we had two at that time and then a third was born right after we moved here , and so I specifically was looking for a place , a community that had things going on , that wasn't just a commuting community , that had things in the town that I could sink my teeth into . Yeah , and you did , and you did and I did , and I've grown up . My parents were very civically minded and very involved in the community I grew up with . So it seemed natural to me to get involved . We've loved living here .

Speaker 1 3:48

It's been great . Before we get into more about New Jersey , tell us a little bit about young Evelyn . What were you into and how did you pursue those dreams ?

Speaker 3 3:58

It's great that you ask actually because it kind of segues into what I do now , in that I grew up in Charleston , South Carolina , right next to a theater called the Dock Street Theater . It is on the site of one of the first theaters in America and it was very old and probably out of convenience and possibly because I asked my mother sent me to acting classes there , because all I had to do was walk next door .

Speaker 2 4:20

That is definitely convenient .

Speaker 3 4:22

Yeah , it was so convenient for her and I loved it and I did it forever , like from I don't know middle school , all through high school , and I did a lot of community theater , a lot of performing as a young person in Charleston . That was sort of always a passion of mine . And then in 1977 , I think it was the Spoleto Festival came to Charleston , south Carolina . This is an arts and music festival that was founded by Giancarlo Minotti in Spoleto , italy , and then they brought the festival to America and they picked Charleston as the American home . The festival is still going on , actually , all these years later . But again , because my family lived next to this theater , my parents got very involved because my mother hosted a daily wine and cheese party at our house for all the musicians that were performing at the theater next door .

Speaker 2 5:09

Wow , that's awesome .

Speaker 3 5:10

It was really awesome and it was for the festival's 21 days and she just kind of said yes , and that lasted for my parents 20 years . That's incredible . They would do this for these days of the festival . It starts Memorial Day , goes to early June and we made lifelong friends . Yo-yo Ma and his wife came there when they just were married and they're still dear , dear friends of ours , and Paula Robeson , a flutist , and they're all really close

Theater Upbringing and Spoleto Festival

Speaker 3 5:41

friends of ours . But also for me as a young teenager , I met professional artists . I met not just musicians , it was really chamber musicians that my mother got to know because our house became their green room . But I mean , tennessee Williams was there . Oh my gosh , they were just ballet dancers and actors . Oh my gosh . I , as the young girl who'd been taking acting classes all her life , thought oh , these are people who actually do this as a living . And it changed my whole perspective because I had never met people who were professional artists and I got the bug , I guess you could say For sure , how did you not ?

Speaker 3 6:21

I mean , it was actually a real eye-opening experience because , you know , there weren't a lot of professional artists in Charleston in 1977 , 78 , 79 .

Speaker 3 6:32

And they certainly were different , these people that I met you know different perspectives , different way of living and , to my parents' , credit , they were welcoming to all these people and nonjudgmental , which I learned a lot from my parents at that time . I mean , south Carolina is a conservative place now and it still was then , but you know , my , my parents welcomed all kinds of people into their home with a very warm and Southern you know , so nice to meet you , kind of thing . Um , so that's kind of what started me on the idea of of being . First I worked as an actor . I tried to work as an actress , but also being involved in the arts always . I've always been involved in the arts .

Speaker 2 7:11

That makes a lot of sense . That's like the through line for you , then yeah .

Speaker 3 7:16

Well , and the funny thing is , stephen was doing the same thing , although we didn't know each other , right . So he lived just down the street from me and he and his mother actually were very involved in the festival . He performed at the festival , so we we had these kind of parallel experiences knowing each other without really knowing each other , yeah , yeah , it's really funny .

Speaker 1 7:34

I have heard this story . I mean , or he has told the story , he likes to talk and talk about how we met .

Speaker 3 7:39

He goes on and on about it . I like to say , oh , we just met at a party and he's like 30 minutes .

Speaker 2 7:46

There's always someone in a couple that's going to give the extra . I think that's me .

Speaker 3 7:56

It's not surprising that it's him right . He's a talker and he likes to tell a story and he's also a huge romantic . So you know , all of this fits right in . He makes it . I mean , it's all true , it's not like he's making it up , but he sends a lovely story .

Speaker 2 8:05

It is a lovely story .

Speaker 1 8:07

There's just such an endearing connection between the two of you . It is really quite a beautiful love story , that's so sweet .

Speaker 3 8:15

Well , we feel really lucky . We really do . What's sort of fun about the stage of life where we are now ? We're empty nesters , our kids are grown and we have kind of found a way to work together that we never thought we would . Really , I was determined to have my own life . Even though I stayed home with the kids for a long time , I was doing a lot of my own things . But then when COVID hit , we had to produce his TV show out of the house and right . So suddenly I was way up in his business . You know , Was that hard at first in his business ? You know , Was that hard at first ? It was hard . It was hard because it was just a weird time , right , we were all , first of all , layer of anxiety that we all had . But then , in addition to that , he didn't know how to translate even to his core . As a performer and loves a live audience . There was no live audience over Zoom and you know you're doing your show there and it's going out across the airwaves .

Speaker 2 9:04

You don't know how it's being received and you're holding the camera , so is he trying to make you laugh ? Is that what he was trying to do ?

Speaker 3 9:12

This is kind of what I realized . When I say he was anxious , I realized it's like when your child is up on stage and you're like , I just needed to be , like you're going to be okay , we got this , you got this , and so it was two things . Most of what I feel like I needed to do was just laugh and tell him that he was at least making one person laugh . But I also needed to pretend like I knew what I was doing , which was totally impossible , because all I would do is put on headphones and listen to his crew and they would tell me what to do . But if something went wrong , I had no idea . I can remember interviews where there was no audio and Stephen couldn't hear the guest and he'd look at me and I'd go I don't know .

Speaker 3 9:55

I'll unplug it and plug it back in , which most of the time actually worked , that's a very good idea .

Speaker 2 9:59

It usually works Always .

Speaker 1 10:01

Yeah , we're very good at that . I actually did that right before my mic wasn't working .

Speaker 3 10:05

But so all of that created this kind of you know camaraderie , that that was a new stage of our relationship . That sort of happened simultaneously with also our children growing

Pandemic Production and Working Together

Speaker 3 10:18

and leaving the house and having more free time and me as a person looking for something , something else to do . You know I've been . I know we're going to talk about it later , but I've been working with Montclair Film for a long , long time . But I was ready for something else as well . We created a production company and now we produce together and we have a first look deal with CBS . So we're really working together now , which is actually kind of lovely and we never thought it would happen ever .

Speaker 2 10:43

Yeah , my parents worked . They didn't at first work together and then they ended up being in the same company and working together as partners for most of my life . And do you feel like you had to transition to be able to have conversations at home that weren't about work , Because that was a hard thing for them to manage ? My parents would always bring work home to the dinner table and we were like , okay , you guys like I felt like I knew their whole portfolio of companies .

Speaker 3 11:09

Oh , that's interesting .

Speaker 2 11:11

You know which company is going to go under . Who are they , what tech they're working on ?

Speaker 3 11:15

I will say it's interesting . Very early on I would say to Steven like your job stops at the door , you're not the boss when you come in this house , and that you know there's a little switch there when you've been , when you are , you know , the leader of an organization , and yet I also was always eager to hear about how things were going and always sort of , uh , we would share a lot of that . So I mean , our kids might say we did do a lot of talking at the table , but um , but now , since they're not around , uh , we probably do too much of it . It is sometimes hard to to turn it off you know ?

Speaker 1 11:50

Yeah , what else is there to talk about , rachel ?

Speaker 2 11:54

You know what , jeanette ? That's so true . I I I told Bill to stop talking about work a while ago too , like come in the door and let's just I don't know if I want to hear about that .

Speaker 1 12:05

That is true , that is true , but then we just talk about our kids .

Speaker 2 12:09

So then you're right . I don't know , I don't have the answer .

Speaker 3 12:13

And there are just so many things , right now in particular , that are just so hard to talk about .

Speaker 2 12:18

Oh , that's very valid . Talk about the news , your work or the kids .

Speaker 1 12:22

We got nothing . You guys are the news right now . That must be hard to not . I mean , I'm sure that living in the world that you live in , you always are somewhat a news topic , but right now it's probably hard to live through all of this . This is very strange .

Speaker 3 12:39

We've never really sort of lived through a moment like this . I mean we were sort of laughing that . I think you could kind of think of the bookends of Stevens at least his , his career in late night is bookended by in 2006 . I think it was he .

Speaker 3 12:54

He gave the White House Correspondents Dinner and it went crazy , viral and like YouTube was just starting and it was . It was a huge moment , but nowhere , nowhere near what's happening now . But there's sort of like the beginning and the end kind of , and now it's because of social media is just so much bigger , and so we've never lived through anything quite like this and I actually think for our kids it's kind of weird because they said our youngest son said dad , it feels like you died .

Speaker 3 13:23

Everything I read is like oh , he was so great and you're so great and he's like but you're still around and this is weird .

Speaker 2 13:31

That's true . It does have that tinge to it when you're reading the headlines and obviously it's not over .

Speaker 3 13:38

I mean , that is over , decidedly over . But there'll be a lot more that we'll do . We just don't know what it'll be . But I think , even for Steven and for me and for the kids , when you read these things it's lovely . It's like again being able to read what people say about you . Often after you're gone , you don't have this chance , so I suppose that's nice , but it also feels emotional . It feels really emotional .

Speaker 1 14:00

Like I'm over here , guys , I'm okay , I'm okay , I'm okay , I'm okay . You know , that is interesting because maybe it's because I've been kind of diving into your being a producer and things that you have cooking . You did a cookbook and you guys have been working together . I feel like I was like oh , what's next ? What ?

Speaker 2 14:17

are they going to do ? I think that's true too . I have also had the same feeling like , well , maybe it's liberating .

Speaker 3 14:23

Yeah , that's true too . I have also had the same feeling like , well , maybe it's liberating . Yeah , I think it's kind of it feels a little bit like the future arrived sooner than I expected it . It's very sad in the way it's happening . You know , stephen has worked with a lot of these people for 20 years and we've known them and we're really close to them and it's just the end of something really magical . And I think what no one will really ever truly understand is how beautiful the team is there and I give Steven a lot of credit because it comes from the top down . There's just a wonderful atmosphere there of support and fun and humor and openness and they all work together beautifully and it's a group of people working together to create something that they love doing .

Speaker 3 15:03

A real work family , a real work family , a real work family , and that is what is tearing everybody up .

Speaker 1 15:10

It's such a moment of change for media in general . I mean it's just fascinating . What is going to happen to this landscape of interviewing people , the format in which he has been working and all of the people on the set have been working ? Where do they go ?

Speaker 3 15:26

No , I mean it was funny . I was talking to our youngest , who's 24 . Cause I said I feel like you guys are the problem . I know you don't . You don't have television . Not one of our three kids have have television . They watch everything you know on their laptop and they watch a lot of things over YouTube , but they watch a lot of podcasts . So I was like explain to me why . No offense A podcast taken .

Speaker 3 15:51

But I said to my son , like why a podcast TV show ? And he said well , it feels more real . We're having right now is hard to duplicate when you've got cameras and lights and all of the things . That provides that kind of glitz and glamour , which is what I think my generation was drawn to back in the day . I think for whatever now I think , particularly younger people they don't care about that .

Speaker 2 16:17

You're totally right . That generation feels like all of that is inauthentic and they want something real . And they feel like this long form conversation where people say uh and um and are thinking about what they want to say is real . They don't want any glitz , glamour or pretense . We also wonder , you know , is it because well , for us , is it because we don't make any money ? We're like two middle-aged women doing this for fun that it's authentic , but like if you make money still be authentic .

Speaker 1 16:52

Yeah , I think money would make it even more authentic .

Speaker 2 16:57

That's , that'll be our ad .

Speaker 3 16:59

There you go .

Speaker 2 16:59

If you want us to be more authentic , please donate to the GoFundMe page .

Speaker 1 17:08

Oh my God , you guys , but you know , the thing that's great , though , is that everybody's learning this new medium , and some people are learning it faster than others , and for us , we're having to get rid of some of our old ideas . You know , yeah , I mean as in being more polished , or being professional . You're like , oh , the way you're supposed to do . And they're like , actually , no , that isn't the way you do it anymore . You're supposed to just throw it out there and it's an interesting thing .

Speaker 2 17:30

We've learned a lot in this process . I mean , we're going up , we'll be doing this for almost three years coming up in . When is it In ?

Speaker 1 17:37

February , we're in about two and a half years , yeah .

Speaker 2 17:46

Thanks , and it's been such a great journey because not only have we met so many amazing people , but we've also , yes , like learned okay , we were so from that generation of . It has to be perfect . It has to look like this and we didn't want to even do video at first and we didn't because it shouldn't be about looks .

Speaker 3 18:00

It should be just about the quality , and then well , no , no , you can get more people if you have a YouTube channel . That's also I find so interesting is the video aspect . I'm still like podcast or what I do when I walk or exercise . It's in my ear . I don't plan to look at it . So now I feel like every , or even this , is happening with , like sub stacks , things I want to read , or suddenly now they're all video and I'm like wait a minute , I just want to read that or listen to it . Why do I have to look at it ?

Speaker 2 18:30

It's so true , but I think that's totally our generation .

Speaker 3 18:34

Isn't it interesting ? I mean , certainly people are still fascinated with celebrity and all of that , but this kind of they don't want the here's so-and-so coming out of the red velvet curtain , that kind of Broadway-esque , I don't know I think it's probably layered on to the society of people wanting truth .

Speaker 1 18:53

They want to know behind the curtain of everything and it's like everything has been so manipulated . I guess they feel that they want to just hear from regular people so manipulated . I guess they feel that they want to just hear from regular people . They're also seeing . I was talking to Rachel . It seems like everything that you learn about like marketing in this industry is it's it has to help people , it has to give . You have to give people something .

Speaker 2 19:15

Oh interesting .

Speaker 1 19:16

Yeah , it's like you're , you're . You're either going to tell them how to be healthier you know how to do this , how to do that or go behind the scenes and learn what really happened .

Speaker 2 19:25

Yes , it's like self-help to the nth degree , like give me the five things , like those are the podcasts , or the things that go viral , the five things that will make you happy , or the five things that you know help your morning , or it's always like how this can help you or that you're seeing like a CEO or a fabulously wealthy person . How did they get there and how can I do that ?

Speaker 2 19:50

It's all self-improvement , which is kind of intense and very , very American you know , it's like uniquely American of like you don't like what you have , let's fix it . And fix , fix , fix , fix .

Speaker 3 20:03

Yeah , I mean , that's interesting , I mean the other thing that's kind of interesting about this moment that we're in , stephen and I and sort of everyone writing about us , is it's being on the inside of it . I am realizing how many mistakes people always make . This era of disinformation is so rampant that I don't know how anybody gets accurate information anymore , because everybody says they're an expert . Everybody says I have the inside facts and I read these things and think you're wrong . That is not true , and what you just espoused is saying these are the facts about you know , they're talking about the late show and they're talking about late night and they're talking about the economics of it , which is all

Media Landscape Changes

Speaker 3 20:42

what they're saying is wrong . And what I find fascinating is that then how do you know where to go ? Because everybody's got a little bit of a mistake .

Speaker 1 20:50

It seems like you have to just decide to live in your reality . Rachel and I were having this conversation . Of course , you know we all know about our bubbles , but it's almost like you now have this multiple gods , like we're going to go with this one and you guys are going with this one , and you just decide to believe . It sounds like it fits within your theory about where you should be in life , and that person's talking in your language , so I'll believe that . How have we ever ?

Speaker 3 21:15

as a country . How are we ever going to come together ?

Speaker 2 21:17

Right , I feel like it has to all blow apart . I mean , it sort of is blowing apart . We're not listening to each other , obviously , but the way people are speaking to each other is terrible . So totally . But why would you want to listen if you're being spoken to like that ?

Speaker 1 21:34

I don't know , I don't know , I don't know . Well you're . You're definitely in the very you know center of something right now , but I , as we all have learned about this society , it will just be forgotten soon . You know center of something right now , but , as we all have learned about this society , it will just be forgotten soon . You know it will just be over and on to the next thing , and you're just right now kind of in the eye of a storm , you know .

Speaker 1 21:54

Yeah , we want to know more about what you've been doing in Montclair since you've been here . You are the kind of the first lady of New Jersey film in my mind .

Speaker 2 22:05

Yes , thank you , I'll take that title . Yeah right , it's a good one .

Speaker 1 22:09

Well , I mean , you have been the head of the Montclair Film Festival and the president of the board and you've been there since the beginning . The founder of .

Speaker 3 22:19

Montclair Film was a guy named Bob Feinberg who had the idea of bringing a festival to Montclair . He sat down with me about 16 years ago now or something and said I have this idea . I was like , let's do it , I'll help you . So , he and I together , the first thing we did was we recruited other board members . We established it as a nonprofit 501c3 . We raised some money and we started with just a four-day festival in May , and now we're about to have our 15th festival . And so for all those years , we have grown now into a five and a half million dollar organization and I'm now the president of the board . I've been an officer of the board since we started . Bob moved to New York and he's still on the board , but he's no longer in a leadership position , and so , yeah , it's been a long time I've been working on this and it's been joyful for me . I love it . I think it's a fabulous organization and nobody not one of us expected we'd be where we are in 2025 , all those years ago , you know . I mean it's amazing .

Speaker 2 23:20

Is it beyond your wildest dreams , Like what were youron to the , not just Montclair ?

Speaker 3 23:25

but Montclair and the surrounding areas . And again I went back to my experience growing up with the Spoleto Festival and I saw how restaurants had come and artists had moved to Charleston and it had really changed Charleston in a significant way . And not that I thought we would change Montclair . But the thing that's different from a festival than a year-round thing is the sort of excitement right . So what we wanted was kind of that just excitement of a festival . But what we immediately did , even at the very first idea , was that we also wanted an education component , and that has been something that has expanded way beyond our wildest dreams . So we're now a year-round organization , we have a very robust film education program and we're running all kinds of production assistant programs as well to give people real hands-on experience in film . But now we operate a movie theater and , as we're going to talk about , we're taking over a second movie theater , so we do so much more than just a small festival , so I don't know to answer your question .

Speaker 3 24:31

I don't know that we ever thought we'd be that big , but we always thought it'd be more than just a festival . Because we wanted education to be a part of it , we started a kid's short competition . The very first thing we did was having kids submit short films for a contest . So it's always been part of the idea was to grow into something that would be meaningful in lots of ways . And here we are .

Speaker 2 24:52

And here you are , and it's such good timing too , that you have learned so much and the education program has grown so much , because it sort of coincides nicely with Governor Murphy's tax credits and bringing so much film and TV production to New Jersey . With Netflix and all of that , you'll have educated people on how to participate in crew . That's what we want .

Speaker 3 25:15

That's what we're trying to do . We've we've done a little bit of it and we're hoping to expand it more . They sort of that , what you call below the line jobs , jobs that aren't the director , the screenwriter or the or the actor . They're all really good union jobs . They're all really good union jobs . They're all the kind of people , like we were saying , that work on Stephen's show . All those people the script operators , the editors , the camera operators , all of those people in film have great jobs and usually they can be steady work and you can join a union and have security . So we think about it sort of at Montclair Film , about meeting this moment , this moment you're talking about in New Jersey , where New Jersey is seeking to really become Hollywood , a Hollywood of the East , or at least a second or third place where film is happening and film and television production and you can see it happening , even though we are working very consciously to kind of become the preeminent film organization I mean , we think we are .

Speaker 3 26:14

There are not a lot of nonprofit film organizations in New Jersey and we really think of ourselves as a preeminent one that is basically working with studios , partnering with Netflix and the other studios , to really be a presence here for people in New Jersey who work and want to work in this business .

Speaker 1 26:31

Right , you have this festival to highlight some of the films worldwide . I know that a lot of the films that come here are from very impressive directors and films that are at Cannes Film Festival that have won come here and they open up along with local films that are done by people in town , also New Jersey-based , but you also have a theater that you have one downtown . Yeah , claridge , the Claridge that was remodeled recently and is lovely and beautiful .

Speaker 1 27:00

Yes , yes , thank you , and now you have moved to take over a historic Bellevue theater . Everyone that lives in this town has wondered when it will come back , and it finally did this last month .

Speaker 3 27:12

It finally did . Well , we've been trying for a long time , so the theater closed in

Montclair Film Festival Journey

Speaker 3 27:17

2017 , I think it was Bowtie moved out , broke their lease from the gentleman who owns the building and it has been dark since then . And so , after a lot of negotiation , we have signed a five-year lease to start operating the movie theater . We will probably have what you call like a soft opening right before the festival in October , but we'll officially start showing films during the festival and then , after the festival , right around the 1st of November , we will full-time be operating that as a full-time theater like the Claridge .

Speaker 3 27:45

So it's really exciting for us because there's synergy between the two . You know , operating two theaters in the same town allow you to have some flexibility , but it also gives us an opportunity to have slightly well a presence in Upper Montclair , where we used to rent that during the festival . All the time we want to bring film back to there . I mean the families that live in Upper Montclair . I mean , when my kids were little , I would drop them off at the Bellevue and it was a great little reprieve because they could go to get pizza and ice cream and a movie and you got like hours before .

Speaker 2 28:14

You could come get them and we could walk to the theater . Yes , and you can walk to the theater .

Speaker 3 28:19

Right . So we're excited too . We're really excited . It's risky , you know , and we're really hoping that the community will help us . We're going to be launching a capital campaign for some support , because it's hard . People aren't going to the movies the way they did before COVID . Hopefully we'll reach new people . We won't just take the same people who are going to the Claridge and have them come to the Bellevue . The goal is that more people will start coming , and that's what we hope . We're really hopeful that the community turns out . I know they've been eager for it to come back and now is the chance to make it happen .

Speaker 1 28:49

I think everybody is aware that movie theaters are , you know , not getting the kind of patronage that they used to get and everybody , I think , is simultaneously like not going and also worried that they're going to lose the movie theater , like you're , like you're not doing your part , but you also don't want it to go away .

Speaker 3 29:09

It's like we're like a little , it's like I said to my son about you're part of the problem , since you don't watch the television show . Right , I actually think people will come back because the Bellevue Theater is in this great location , like we just said , it's in the heart of .

Speaker 3 29:25

Upper Montclair . It's so community focused . There are so many neighborhood organizations that people want to go to that it just kind of you can walk by it in a way that just open up for people as a chance to say let's pop in and see what's happening Will the programming be more like indie , or is it going to be a range ?

Speaker 3 29:46

It'll be a range . We're probably going to do slightly bigger sort of more studio films , more family-focused films there at the Bellevue , which is the way it used to be , just because they're bigger theaters and it now has three it used to have four .

Speaker 3 30:01

There'll only be three screens now because the landlord took one of the downstairs screens to make it into a separate retail space . So we'll have three screens , but they are bigger . Tom Hall , our artistic director , does all the programming himself of the Claridge and he will program the Bellevue , and he's a genius .

Speaker 3 30:17

He's absolutely a genius he's so good at this , and he has figured out what makes a Montclair audience show up you know , and I always like to tell people , particularly when I'm looking for sponsorship or support , that Montclair has a very unique audience . It's a very discerning population , half of the New York Times lives here .

Speaker 2 30:38

Half of the people who live here work in you would have too many reviewers coming to that opening . You would you would .

Speaker 3 30:45

But certain movies that don't play well nationally play really well in Montclair and then there might be some movies that play well nationally that don't do as well for us . So I think what Tom has done is figure out what really draws people here . So it's working for the Claridge , we're doing well and I think and hope it will work with the Bellevue fingers crossed .

Speaker 1 31:03

Has the theater been renovated or the screen's ? New Is the sound ? How is ?

Speaker 3 31:08

that it has been partially renovated . The landlord has done some work . We're probably not going to do the kind of work we did at the Claridge , so it'll be able to look a little different because he did the work . But the equipment is working and the screens are working and all of that . There's just a little cosmetic differences . That we might go in and zhuzh it up a little bit , make it look a little bit more like Montclair film Depends , frankly , on how much that would cost . We're still getting quotes . But it's functioning and it looks great and there'll be popcorn and there'll be Diet Coke and there'll be eventually maybe alcohol we have to apply for a non-profit liquor license .

Speaker 3 31:42

It took us three years to get that at the Claridge . Hopefully it won't take three years to get it at the Bellevue , but we're going to start that process as well , because who doesn't want to take a glass of wine in for a movie ? Right , that's kind of fun . That's a great idea .

Speaker 2 31:53

It is fun yeah .

Speaker 1 31:55

What I'll say is that I have complete faith that it's going to be successful , because you have carried the festival through strikes , covid , all these things , and you did go through the closure of the Bellevue as well . I had to , you know , reconfigure people in the festival Well thank you for that . You've handled many different challenges and , yeah , I mean things are different , but I think how the idea that you don't have right now that's going to make people get back to theaters or whatever it is .

Speaker 3 32:23

That's true . You just don't know , you really don't know what it is .

Speaker 1 32:27

It might be candy , we'll see , we'll just keep trying A little trail of candy .

Speaker 3 32:32

Sugar helps , sugar helps , popcorn helps . We have really good popcorn . I love our popcorn .

Reviving the Bellevue Theater

Speaker 2 32:38

Could I buy a Montclair film t-shirt there too ? Absolutely .

Speaker 1 32:41

Absolutely . We love our swag . Well , we're excited and we're just so happy that you chose Montclair , chose New .

Speaker 2 32:49

Jersey to move to way back when .

Speaker 1 32:52

We are too . One of the questions I'm going to throw this in is that what is it like living You're kind of a big fish in a small pond . What has that been like living here you ?

Speaker 3 33:03

know , I think Montclair is lovely that way . Most people just let us be ourselves . And you know , I think it was nice for our kids that we were already here and Stephen's kind of celebrity-ism happened over a period of time so that most of their friends already knew him as their dad , you know . And so you know , stephen became more famous and it was just like , well , that's what his dad does or her dad does , but you know it's not . Montclairians are a little bit like New York City folks . They kind of give you the like they're not demonstrative , you know Although .

Speaker 3 33:34

Stephen did say , after the recent unpleasantness , he went to Whole Foods and he was like he had like a crowd of people following him around .

Speaker 2 33:42

Whole Foods Really With sad expressions on their face With sympathy .

Speaker 1 33:47

Sympathy like oh , how are you ? Okay , you know , I'm so glad you brought up the grocery store because both Rachel and I can attest to being the calm locals , because Rachel recently had a whole entire event at King's with you .

Speaker 2 34:05

Oh , it was King's . It wasn't an event With me , no , with Steven . He was for avocados , which I'm always looking for , by the way .

Speaker 3 34:12

It's really hard to find them . It's hard to find them , and when you get them , it's hard to eat them on time . It's just the worst thing . It's an avocado saga .

Speaker 2 34:20

Yes , it is , it is . So I think I was out because my daughters were adamant that I was going to make this taco , whatever with that . So I'm looking at avocados and I guess I don't have a poker face . I must have looked extremely disappointed . And then I hear a voice behind me say oh yeah , no , it's hard to find good avocados . I actually got too many . Do you want my avocados ? I didn't even know who it was that I turn and I'm looking in Steven's face and I was like , uh , yeah , I do want them , That'd be great .

Speaker 3 34:54

It's so funny . Well , just yesterday I was at King's and the produce manager came up to me . I don't remember . I think he said his name was Tony . I can't remember . He couldn't have been sweeter . And again he's like I'm so sorry , oh , that's so nice .

Speaker 2 35:11

I know it's really sweet . Oh , that's great .

Speaker 1 35:15

It's kind of nice that everybody you know they left you alone , but now they know that you're going through with something . They're going to just say a little something that's true .

Speaker 2 35:23

These are our people . Yeah , these are your people . That's pretty nice . Speaking of groceries , though , I love the title of your cookbook . Yes , oh , do you ? Thank you , phenomenal .

Speaker 1 35:32

Yeah , because we all say it . We're like does this taste funny ? Does this taste funny ? I know exactly .

Speaker 3 35:37

It has so many good meanings . Yeah , and Stephen threw that out early and then we kind of forgot about it and then came back to it . But that was such a fun project . We had so much fun . I'm doing that . It was really great . And did you , did you ever like think of things that you didn't include ? You're like , yeah , that that , yeah , well , we had , we cut . We cut some for sure Cause we were too long . And then we did have a little bit of a rule , because there are a lot of family recipes in it and we did say nothing . That is a recipe off a box or or includes a um an ingredient that comes in a box . You know what I mean . Like no Lipton soup things .

Speaker 1 36:15

Take the Lipton onion soup , no onion dip , and all that stuff .

Speaker 3 36:18

So that actually cut out a lot of family stuff , because both my family and his family . You know , raising your kids in the 60s , 70s , 80s , like there was a lot of that .

Speaker 2 36:25

That was a lot .

Speaker 3 36:26

Yeah , it was a lot , but then you know , then there were definitely things that I'm a creature of habit and I have all the things I fed my kids over the years and some of them I would look at and think that is just dated . You don't want to . Lemon bunk cake that I've made them with I can make with my eyes closed Really feels like it's 1980 something and I don't think we need it .

Speaker 2 36:49

So did you put in any Southern like ambrosia ?

Speaker 3 36:56

You know it's funny , you say ambrosia . I thought about it . My grandmother would bring ambrosia every Christmas day and she would put sliced coconut in it , which I guess you have to and I hated the coconut so I wouldn't eat it . But we thought about ambrosia . I found my other grandmother . That was my mother's mother , but my father's mother was a really great cook and I found her recipe box . She died when I was very , very little but I found it with my mom and we went through and found some of her old recipes which we did put in . We put in like a chest pie and a huguenot torte , some really old classic Southern recipes which are really fun and then of course my children cried fraud .

Speaker 3 37:32

They're like you never made that .

Speaker 2 37:36

But I could , you know what ?

Speaker 3 37:37

I could read my book . You know how to do it and I did when I . When I made the cookbook , I made it several times . You just didn't

Living in Montclair as Celebrities

Speaker 3 37:45

happen to live here then , but yes .

Speaker 1 37:47

Oh God . Well , I'd say that if people want to help support , go get the cookbook and make recipes and post them online in support of the Colberts . That's so nice of you and also support Montclair Film .

Speaker 3 38:01

If you want to support the Bellevue , please help us Any financial contribution . How can we tell people to do it Well , our website is montclairfilmorg and there's information there on how to donate . But we will be launching an official Bellevue campaign , but you could just right now say it's in support of the Bellevue Theater and it will go to helping us . You know it's all one pot , essentially one nonprofit pot , but we would love any help and please come to the movies , come to the .

Speaker 2 38:25

Claire's , come to the Bellevue . We're ready , we're ready .

Speaker 1 38:28

We're ready , we'll be there . Well , thank you so much for joining us and sharing a look into your life and also to how the film festival and how you got to New Jersey .

Speaker 3 38:37

I really appreciate it . I appreciate the time and your interest so much . It's a lot of fun .

Speaker 2 38:45

This podcast was produced by Rachel Martens and Jeanette Afsharian . You can find us on Spotify , itunes and Buzzsprout . Thanks for listening . See you next week .