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Stephen Colbert confirms cameo in 'The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug'

Colbert says sharp-eyed moviegoers can spot him in a scene in Laketown.

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John Shearer/Invision/AP
Stephen Colbert said of the newest 'Hobbit' film, 'I am in it.'
  • By Molly Driscoll Staff Writer

Did a resident of Laketown in the film “The Hobbit: The Desolation of Smaug” look somewhat familiar?

You weren’t seeing things. After rumors have continuously swirled about whether “The Colbert Report” host Stephen Colbert filmed a cameo for the “Hobbit” films, Colbert himself confirmed that he, his wife, and his two sons can be seen in the newest movie.

In an appearance on “The Late Show with David Letterman,” Colbert told Letterman, “I'm kind of the breakout star of 'The Hobbit,' Dave. I don't want to tell anybody where I am, but I am in it.”

Letterman encouraged him to share details, and Colbert said that “I and my wife and my two boys were invited down to New Zealand to play around with the folks in 'The Hobbit' by Peter Jackson. We went down there, and we're in a scene in Laketown. I don't want to say where in the movie. It's kind of a 'Where's Waldo?'”

A Reddit user later uploaded a photo of a spy in Laketown who certainly looks a lot like the TV host. (See it here.)

Colbert is famously a huge fan of the works of J.R.R. Tolkien, having devoted an entire week of his show to the “Hobbit” films prior to their release and impressing “Rings” and “Hobbit” director Jackson with his knowledge. 

“I have never met a bigger Tolkien geek in my life,” Jackson said of Colbert in an interview with Entertainment Weekly.

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