Stephen Colbert and Amy Sedaris share the stage again

On Wednesday, in the waning days of “The Colbert Report” (there are but nine more episodes before the host takes a break prior to assuming David Letterman’s mantle at CBS early next year), Stephen Colbert welcomed back an old friend and “surprise” guest: Amy Sedaris. They met in Chicago at Second City in the 1990s and went on — with Oak Park native, Second City cohort and Sedaris’ former boyfriend Paul Dinello — to co-star on various TV shows, including “Exit 57” and “Strangers with Candy.”

In fact, during an interview several years ago Colbert credited Sedaris and Dinello with enabling him to make a successful transition from earnest thespian to comedic standout. But it wasn’t an entirely smooth segue.

Knowing Colbert hated to laugh onstage during a scene, his mischievous colleagues tried very hard to make him laugh onstage during a scene — and succeeded at least once. In the middle of a touring company performance, Colbert recalled, Sedaris surprised him by installing “icky” false teeth without his knowledge and then grinning widely.

“I was so mad that we finished the song and then I f—— blew offstage and went and locked myself in the bathroom like a teenage girl, and banged my head against the wall with rage,” Colbert remembered. “And she and Paul, who were determined to get me to loosen up, were like, [high mocking voice], ‘Hey, are you crying?’ Just mocking me mercilessly.”

“He was very serious in the beginning, and it was hard,” Sedaris said. “But after that, he was all ours.”

Added Dinello, “By the time we got on Mainstage, he had no problem showing up for a scene without his pants on…He completely tossed the rules away.”

Here’s the Sedaris-Colbert clip from last night.

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