On screen
Cast
396 credited performers
Stephen Colbert
Self - Host
Jon Stewart
Self - Guest
Mike Huckabee
Self - Guest
Chris Matthews
Self
Andrew Sullivan
Self (uncredited)
Jeff Goldblum
Self
Ken Burns
Self (uncredited)
Arianna Huffington
Self
Jack White
Self
Christiane Amanpour
Self (uncredited)
Tim Meadows
Self
Neil Young
Self - Musical Guest
George Stephanopoulos
Self - Guest
Toby Keith
Self
Doris Kearns Goodwin
Self
George Saunders
Self - Guest
Kareem Abdul-Jabbar
Self (uncredited)
Lou Dobbs
Self
Reza Aslan
Self
Eric Drysdale
Bobby (uncredited)
David Cross
Russ Lieber (voice) (uncredited)
Gloria Steinem
Self (uncredited)
Henry Kissinger
Self
Michael Stipe
Self
Eliot Spitzer
Self
Neil deGrasse Tyson
Self (uncredited)
Thomas L. Friedman
Self - Guest
Jim Webb
Self
Nas
Self
Kevin Bacon
Self
J.J. Abrams
Self
Barbara Boxer
Self
Mark Cuban
Self
Amy Goodman
Self
Steve Martin
Self
Peter Beinart
Self
Daniel Ellsberg
Self
Deepak Chopra
Self
Michael Moore
Self
Katrina vanden Heuvel
Self
Malcolm Gladwell
Self
Cornel West
Self
Stone Phillips
Self
Jeff Daniels
Self
Paul Dinello
Tad
Tim Robbins
Self
Al Gore
Self
Jim Lovell
Self
Stephen Sondheim
Self
Elvis Costello
Self
John Legend
Self
Bob Costas
Self
Maureen Dowd
Self
Barry Manilow
Character not listed
Randy Newman
Self (uncredited)
David Brooks
Self
Charlie Rose
Character not listed
Bill Clinton
Self (uncredited)
Sam Waterston
Character not listed
Andrew Young
Self
John McCain
Self - Guest
Alan Alda
Self (uncredited)
James Franco
Character not listed
Peter Frampton
Self
Elijah Wood
Character not listed
Kevin Spacey
Self
Andy Cohen
Self - Guest
Tom Hanks
Self
Barney Frank
Self
Tom Brokaw
Self (uncredited)
David Gregory
Self (uncredited)
Byron Dorgan
Self
Bradley Whitford
Self
Matt Taibbi
Self - Guest
Ralph Nader
Self - Guest
Bernie Sanders
Self - Guest
Jim Cramer
Self
John Waters
Self - Guest
Cory Booker
Self - Guest
Patrick Stewart
Self (uncredited)
Rick Springfield
Self
Peggy Noonan
Self
George Wendt
Santa
Catherine Crier
Self
Douglas Brinkley
Character not listed
Al Franken
Self
Cokie Roberts
Self
Annie Duke
Self
Stephanie Tubbs Jones
Self
Fareed Zakaria
Self
Greg Behrendt
Self
Richard Preston Jr.
Self
Harry Smith
Self
Al Sharpton
Self
Anderson Cooper
Self
Jane Fonda
Self - Guest
Mike Lupica
Character not listed
John Kasich
Character not listed
Leslie Feist
Self
Bob Kerrey
Self
Dermot Mulroney
Self - Guest
Gideon Yago
Character not listed
Lisa Loeb
Self
Dave Marash
Self
Jim Lehrer
Character not listed
William Kristol
Self
Ted Danson
Self - Guest
Emily Yoffe
Self
Tony Hawk
Self
Monica Crowley
Self
Robin Givhan
Self - Guest
Ron Suskind
Self
Rachel Maddow
Character not listed
Eugene Jarecki
Character not listed
Salman Khan
Character not listed
Gary Sinise
Self
Robin Wright
Character not listed
Drew Barrymore
Self - Guest
Diane Keaton
Character not listed
Bob Schieffer
Character not listed
Garry Kasparov
Character not listed
Lynn Swann
Character not listed
Richard Dawkins
Character not listed
Amy Sedaris
Character not listed
Ang Lee
Character not listed
John Mellencamp
Character not listed
Erik Weiner
Character not listed
Carole King
Character not listed
Harry Shearer
Self - Guest
R. James Woolsey, Jr.
Self
Garry Trudeau
Character not listed
Donna Shalala
Character not listed
Henry Louis Gates, Jr.
Character not listed
Quincy Jones
Character not listed
Jimmie Johnson
Character not listed
Martin Short
Character not listed
Lorraine Bracco
Self
Alison Becker
Character not listed
Hillary Clinton
Self
Ric Ocasek
Character not listed
Scott McClellan
Self
James Taylor
Character not listed
Tony Danza
Character not listed
Steve Carell
Character not listed
Frank Luntz
Character not listed
Mark Ruffalo
Character not listed
James Cameron
Character not listed
Nina Totenberg
Self - Guest
Donald Faison
Self
Frank McCourt
Self - Guest
Mike Wallace
Character not listed
Ira Glass
Character not listed
Julie Taymor
Character not listed
Lupe Fiasco
Character not listed
Geoffrey Rush
Character not listed
Daniel Craig
Self - Guest
Charlize Theron
Self
Dinesh D'Souza
Character not listed
Kathryn Bigelow
Character not listed
Sugar Ray Leonard
Character not listed
Kevin Mitnick
Character not listed
William Shatner
Self - Guest
Audra McDonald
Character not listed
Caroline Kennedy
Character not listed
David McCullough
Character not listed
Austan Goolsbee
Character not listed
Eric McCormack
Self
Ethan Nadelmann
Character not listed
Wesley Clark
Character not listed
Björk
Self - Musical Guest
John Lithgow
Character not listed
Ron Howard
Character not listed
David Copperfield
Self
Tom Vilsack
Self
Julie Andrews
Self - Grimm Colberty Tales
John Heilemann
Self - Guest
Charles Murray
Character not listed
Bonnie Raitt
Character not listed
Yo-Yo Ma
Self - Guest
Mike Tyson
Character not listed
Piers Gibbon
Character not listed
Buzz Aldrin
Character not listed
Olivia Wilde
Character not listed
Howard Dean
Self
Neil Gaiman
Character not listed
Larry King
Character not listed
Patti Smith
Character not listed
Anthony Bourdain
Character not listed
Jeff Bridges
Character not listed
Michelle Obama
Self - Guest
David Frum
Self - Guest
Martin Sheen
Self - Guest
Aaron Sorkin
Character not listed
Jimmy Fallon
Character not listed
Morgan Spurlock
Character not listed
David Letterman
Character not listed
Tavis Smiley
Self
Frank Deford
Character not listed
Bill O'Reilly
Character not listed
Jesse Ventura
Character not listed
Maria Shriver
Character not listed
Kris Kristofferson
Character not listed
Carl Wilson
Self - Guest
Nancy Pelosi
Character not listed
Anne Rice
Character not listed
Regina Spektor
Character not listed
Debra Dickerson
Character not listed
Meryl Streep
Character not listed
Werner Herzog
Character not listed
Brian Cox
Character not listed
Jeri Kehn Thompson
Character not listed
John Grisham
Character not listed
Tony Snow
Character not listed
Grover Norquist
Self
Nora Ephron
Character not listed
Surya Das
Character not listed
Muhammad Yunus
Self - Guest
Ron Reagan
Self
Richard Branson
Character not listed
Deborah Tannen
Character not listed
Peter Singer
Character not listed
Seth Meyers
Character not listed
Claire Danes
Character not listed
Diane Sawyer
Character not listed
Samuel L. Jackson
Character not listed
Willem Dafoe
Character not listed
Neil Patrick Harris
Character not listed
Niall Ferguson
Character not listed
Jeffrey Sachs
Character not listed
Michael Phelps
Character not listed
Geraldo Rivera
Character not listed
Brian Eno
Character not listed
Lisa Jackson
Character not listed
Barbara Walters
Character not listed
Cat Stevens
Character not listed
Harry Belafonte
Self - Guest
Martha Stewart
Character not listed
Laird Hamilton
Character not listed
Steve Coll
Character not listed
Sarah Vowell
Self
Maz Jobrani
Self
Helen Thomas
Self
Keith Olbermann
Self
Conan O'Brien
Character not listed
Talib Kweli
Character not listed
John Edwards
Self
Paul Simon
Character not listed
Lena Dunham
Character not listed
Emmylou Harris
Character not listed
Rick Nielsen
Self
John Oliver
Self
Ariel Levy
Self
Ed Helms
Self
Carl Bernstein
Self - Guest
Michael Smerconish
Self
Mike Mills
Self
Peter Buck
Self
Morley Safer
Self
Sarah Palin
Self
Jamie Oliver
Self - Guest
Jeffrey Tambor
Self - Guest
Mike Mullen
Self
Lynn Sherr
Self
James M. McPherson
Self
Leon Wieseltier
Self
Carol Burnett
Self - Guest
Robert Plant
Self - Musical Guest
Walter Isaacson
Self
Justin Simien
Self
William Deresiewicz
Self
Meredith Vieira
Self - Guest
Jill Lepore
Self - Guest
Eva Longoria
Self - Guest
Alexandra Pelosi
Self
Alan Dershowitz
Self
Paul Begala
Self
John Lewis
Character not listed
Richard Brodhead
Character not listed
Jack Kingston
Self
Bruce Feiler
Self
Mary Roach
Self
John Mica
Self
Mark Udall
Self
Deborah M.
Self - Caller from Austin, Texas
Colton W.
Self - Caller from Poulsboro, Washington
Bill R.
Self - Caller from Canada
Leyla K.
Self - Caller from Waukesha, Wisconsin
Brian Greene
Self
Jerry Mitchell
Self
Lesley Stahl
Self
Charlie Crist
Self
Jerry Nadler
Self
Jackie Speier
Self
Chris Dodd
Self
Robert F. Kennedy Jr.
Self - Guest
John Dingell
Self
Judy Woodruff
Self
Phil Klay
Self - Guest
Kendrick Lamar
Self - Musical Guest
Seth Rogen
Self - Guest
Sarah Koenig
Self - Guest
James Corden
Self - Guest
Barack Obama
Self - Guest
Paul Farmer
Self
Christopher Nolan
Self - Guest
Sister Rosemary Nyirumbe
Self
Bill Berry
Self
Jeffrey Toobin
Self
Billie Joe Armstrong
Self
Tré Cool
Self
Mike Dirnt
Self
Bill Bradley
Self
Scott McCaughey
Self
Bill Rieflin
Self
Matthew Weiner
Self
Tony Bennett
Self - Guest
Lady Gaga
Self - Guest
Toni Morrison
Self - Guest
Jennifer Lawrence
Self - Guest
Terence Tao
Self - Guest
Diane von Fürstenberg
Self - Guest
Kirsten Gillibrand
Self - Guest
Chuck Todd
Self - Guest
Vince Gilligan
Self - Guest
Daniel Radcliffe
Self - Guest
Paul Giamatti
Self - Guest
Orlando Bloom
Self - Guest
Julius Erving
Self - Guest
Jay Carney
Self - Guest
Dave Grohl
Self - Guest
Elliot Page
Self
David Cassidy
Self
John Harwood
Self
Leonard Nimoy
Self - Guest
John Feinstein
Self - Guest
Dolly Parton
Self - Guest
Reihan Salam
Self
Melissa Harris-Perry
Self - Guest
Bill Moyers
Self - Guest
Mike Allen
Self - Guest
Scott Douglas
Self - Guest
Jennifer Granholm
Self - Guest
Bjørn Lomborg
Self - Guest
Garrison Keillor
Self - Guest
Russell Simmons
Self - Guest
Mark Moffett
Self - Guest
Glenn Greenwald
Self
Jon Batiste
Self (uncredited)
Katie Couric
Self (uncredited)
Bryan Cranston
Self (uncredited)
Bill de Blasio
Self (uncredited)
Terry Gross
Self (uncredited)
Mark Hamill
Self (uncredited)
Peter Jackson
Self (uncredited)
Paul Krugman
Self (uncredited)
Cyndi Lauper
Self (uncredited)
George Lucas
Self (uncredited)
Willie Nelson
Self (uncredited)
Eleanor Holmes Norton
Self (uncredited)
Mandy Patinkin
Self (uncredited)
Trevor Potter
Self (uncredited)
Joe Quesada
Self (uncredited)
David Remnick
Self (uncredited)
David Rudman
Cookie Monster (uncredited)
Caroll Spinney
Big Bird (uncredited)
Alex Trebek
Self (uncredited)
Jeff Tweedy
Self (uncredited)
Newt Gingrich
Self - Guest
Sherman Alexie
Self
Chrystia Freeland
Self - Guest
Cliff Sloan
Self
Hugh Hewitt
Self - Guest
Nancy Grace
Self - Guest
John Stossel
Self - Guest
Ned Lamont
Self
Joe Scarborough
Self
Russ Feingold
Self
Paul Rudd
Self - Guest
David Miliband
Self - Guest
George Takei
Self - Guest
Iggy Pop
Self - Guest/Musical Guest
James Williamson
Self - Musical Guest
Mike Watt
Self - Musical Guest
Linda Sánchez
Self
Michael Hastings
Self - Guest
Gary Johnson
Self
Wendy Kopp
Self
John Garamendi
Self
Dan Kildee
Self
Ann Patchett
Self - Guest
Jaron Lanier
Self - Guest
Benedict Cumberbatch
Smaug (voice)
Amy Farrell
Self - Guest
Gregg Allman
Self - Guest
Jimmy Wales
Self
Raúl Grijalva
Self