please welcome joss whedon. thanks for coming on. >> thank you for having me. >> stephen: nice to meet you. i'm a big fan of your work. >> as am i-- of yours. i'm a fan of your work. >> stephen: oh, i'm a fan of my work as well. wonderful. now, joss-- not josh. >> two ss. >> stephen: why did you drop the h. what kind of name is joss? >> well, it's sort of a bastardized chinese word meaning luck. if you read james clavell it is. >> i read sshould, ogun but that's japanese. >> tipan. >> stephen: i don't read chinese. what was your name before it was joss. >> it was joseph or joe or joey, which is why i changed. >> stephen: okay, can i call you joey? >> no. >> stephen: all right, let's move on. you know, you are the emmy winning film and tv creator producer, director, writer, composer-- composure? >> yes, of this movie. >> stephen: your work includes buff, and the avengers. the new film is "much ado about nothing." why, if you're the super big blockbuster director of the avengers, billion-dollar movie at least, rig

ladies and gentlemen, please welcome to our show, joss whedon!ork. >> yes, i am. >> jimmy: welcome back. are you enjoying your time in the city here? >> yeah, you know. walking around. >> jimmy: did you grow up here? >> born and badly raised in the upper west side. >> jimmy: is that right? >> yeah. >> jimmy: very cool. mom and dad still here? >> no, no. dad moved to los angeles to pursue comedy writing, which was going on here, but not so much after a while. my mom was a schoolteacher. >> jimmy: she was a schoolteacher. and your dad wrote and your grandfather wrote as well, right? >> yes, he did. he wrote television sitcoms and before that radio. >> jimmy: anything that we would know? >> "donna reed," "dick van dyke." >> jimmy: no way? [ cheers and applause ] that's amazing! and your dad wrote as well? any shows we would know there? >> well, he started out -- when i was little, he was doing "dick cavett," and then "the electric company." and then moved to l.a. and did "alice," "golden girls." [ cheers and applause ] >> jimmy: that's amazing. that

from los angeles, i am tavis smiley.tonight, a conversation with joss whedon, who has been called the most innovative storyteller of his generation. he is the man behind such television cult series as "buffy the vampire slayer" and "angel ." last year, his movie "the a billionearned dollars at the box office. his newest story is a modern-day retelling of shakespeare's "much ado about nothing." we are glad you have joined us for a conversation with joss whedon, coming up right now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: imagine you have just directed a blockbuster with a budget of over $200 million based on an iconic marvel comic book character and that goes onto really -- to e

if you are joss whedon, you direct a modern-day version of "much ado about nothing" in your backyard. you work with actresses you have worked with and you film it in 12 days. this is what you come up with. >> are you sure benedict loves the address so entirely? beatrice so entirely? >> so says the prince. >> did you tell them of it? >> they did not treat me to their acquaintance. i persuaded them that if they loved benedict, wrestle with the affection. >> why did you so? does not a gentleman deserve as full and fortunate to bed? >> i know he does deserve as much as must be yielded to a man. [laughter] here notingsley was too long ago. whenever he comes through, it is impossible to go from beginning to end of a conversation without shakespeare making a cameo somewhere in the conversation. i will ask you, as i asked him, what is it about shakespeare? you know, it is the language. it is how personally i relate to it. i grew up around people doing it and watching it and reading it. even before i could understand it, because i was trying to look cool to my parents. it seeped in. i love the

from los angeles, i am tavis smiley.tonight, a conversation with joss whedon, who has been called the most innovative storyteller of his generation. he is the man behind such television cult series as "buffy the vampire slayer" and "angel ." last year, his movie "the a billionearned dollars at the box office. his newest story is a modern-day retelling of shakespeare's "much ado about nothing." we are glad you have joined us for a conversation with joss whedon, coming up right now. >> there is a saying that dr. king had that said there is always the right time to do the right thing. i just try to live my life every day by doing the right thing. we know that we are only halfway to completely eliminate hunger, and we have a lot of work to do. walmart committed $2 billion to fighting hunger in the u.s. as we work together, we can stamp hunger out. >> and by contributions to your pbs station from viewers like you. thank you. tavis: imagine you have just directed a blockbuster with a budget of over $200 million based on an iconic marvel comic book character and that goes onto really --

joss whedon is here. the man behind some of the most popular films and television series in hollywood. he's a creator of the hit show "bufffy the vampire slayer" and directed "the avengers." he's chose an small budget shakespeare adaptation that he made in his home in 12 days. here's the trailer for "much ado about nothing." >> i hope so see you one day fitted with a husband. >> not until god makes men of some other metal than earth. >> it is certain i am loved of all ladies. but truly i love none. >> pure happiness to women. >> oh, god, sir, i cannot endure my lady. >> there's a kind of merry war between senior benedict and her. they never meet but there's a skirmish of wit between them. >> if you three will, i will bring benedict and beatrice into a mountain of affection. >> by this day she's a fair lady >> by this hand i love thee. >> we are the only love gods. >> rose: i'm pleased to have joss whedon at the this table for the first time. welcome. >> thanks for having me. >> how long have you been have

and my guest, joss whedon, i is the creator of buffy, firefly and dollhouse. the interview will be critically acclaimed but it will get canceled halfway through. a new

and my guest, joss whedon, i is the creator of buffy, firefly and dollhouse.e interview will be critically acclaimed but it will get canceled halfway through. a new study says 70% of americans are on prescription drugs. if you find that number depressing, talk to your doctor about cymbalta. this is the the "colbert report." >> stephen: hey, look at that. welcome to the report, everybody. good to have you with us. thank you so much, folks. >> stephen! stephen! stephen! stephen! >> stephen: thank you very much. thank you, ladies and gentlemen. welcome to the report in here, out there, all around the world. mr. and mrs. america and all the ships at sea. folks, if you are regular viewers of this show you know i don't cover a lot of international events. i say if news wants me to care about it, it should have planned ahead and happened in america. think, think, okay? but, folks, last week a major story broke that affects me personally. they held elections in iran, and then the unthinkable happened, they counted the votes. >> a cleric has been elected to replace the

and joss whedon did "much ado about nothing." it's the best shakespeare comedy i've ever seen. is hope. with the studios tying up $200 million hoping for that billion dollar international payoff, it's a very depressing time to be a serious filmmaker. >> all right, thank you so much. >> you're very welcome. >> very good to have you. you're showing range, richard. still ahead, mike tyson delivers an entertainment knockout punch. he was funny last night. we're going to show you the former boxing charm's appearance at the tonys. he did not wear the kinky boots. the producer here with his shiny new tony award. ♪ i' 'm a hard, hard ♪ worker every day. ♪ i' ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm working every day. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker and i'm saving all my pay. ♪ ♪ if i ever get some money put away, ♪ ♪ i'm going to take it all out and celebrate. ♪ ♪ i'm a hard, hard worker... ♪ membership rallied millions of us on small business saturday to make shopping small, huge. this is what membership is. this is what membership does. make a wish! i wish we could lie here forever. i wish this