Stephen Colbert went to the Tribeca Film Festival to interview filmmaker George Lucas, but the Star Wars creator had a question of his own. “The perfect choice to replace that Jon Stewart fellow would have been you,” Lucas told Colbert on Friday. Why, he wanted to know, wasn’t Colbert replacing Stewart on The Daily Show? Colbert, who replaces David Letterman in September as host of The Late Show on CBS, tried to explain. “Trevor Noah is a very funny guy,” he said of Stewart’s recently named replacement. “I don’t want to be the guy to take over from Jon Stewart. I worked for Jon Stewart at that show, and my memories will always be of him being the keenest, most intelligent, most beautifully deconstructive mind. … And I would never, however successful I’d be, get out of his shadow.” The two men didn’t speak much about the coming Star Wars trilogy, directed by J.J. Abrams. The first installment, Star Wars: The Force Awakens, opens in December. Lucas, who sold the franchise and Lucasfilm to Disney in 2012 for $4.05 billion, said he doesn’t know what the film’s plot will be but that he looks forward to seeing it. “The one thing I regret about having made Star Wars is that I never got to just go and see it,” he said. “I hope it’s successful. I hope they do a great job.”
A rally and concert Saturday drew some big names to the National Mall and some celebrities into the world of politics to confront the dual issues of climate change and poverty. Backstage before his performance, Train frontman Patrick Monahan said he didn’t know much before about the environmental movement and the push to end extreme poverty. “It’s about all of us being aware but getting our hands dirty because it’s not going to be an easy thing,” Monahan said. Usher, Mary J. Blige, Gwen Stefani, Common and Train were scheduled to perform during the free Global Citizen 2015 Earth Day rally, an all-day event hosted by will.i.am and Soledad O’Brien. Monahan said he’s been inspired by the charitable work of Coldplay’s Chris Martin and Hugh Evans of the Global Poverty Project, which has set a goal to end extreme poverty by 2030. “Those guys lead their lives with their hearts. That’s the kind of people I want to be around,” Monahan said. “Whatever I can do to help legislation change, which is a humongous thing, and to get dollars to go to different places.” Earth Day Network President Kathleen Rogers said eliminating poverty will require a solution to the climate change problem, leading advocates on both issues to collaborate.