On February 5, 2024, we woke to the news that Toby Keith had passed away following a fight with stomach cancer. He was sixty-two.
KEEP SCROLLING TO WATCH STEPHEN COLBERT’S TRIBUTE TO TOBY KEITH!
Keith’s family posted to Instagram that the country legend had passed away on February 5.
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On (Feb. 6), Stephen Colbert of ‘The Late Show’ paid a moving homage to his longtime friend Toby Keith. He talked about the lengthy history of their friendship and shared a sentimental item that he kept in his office to remind him of the man he lovingly referred to as “Big Dog.”
“I was shocked and saddened when I saw the news. I knew Toby was ill, and he’d been fighting stomach cancer for some time. But I still had hope that we’d see each other again, and that we would hear him on this stage, because I was lucky enough to become friends with Toby over the years — as improbable as that seems,” Colbert said.
Colbert also said, “Toby taught me not to judge people too quickly, and with his passing, I’m gonna try to remember that again.” He implored his audience to keep that in mind. The comedian ended his homage with a nickname for Keith: “Thank you, Big Dog.”
“Back then, there was a not-so-helpful legend that I had knives out for some of my guests, and it didn’t help that at the beginning I sometimes did. And I remember having some kind of plan for Toby, I think related to his boot-in-your-ass song. But right before I went onstage, I remember vividly looking down at my shoes and saying, ‘What are you doing? You’re a host; he’s your guest. Make him feel welcome. See who he is.’ And what do you know: We hit it off like a house afire. I couldn’t believe how much I enjoyed talking to Toby Keith,” Colbert recalled.
Watch the video of Colbert’s tribute to Toby below:
“Evidently, Toby had a good time, too, because after the show, I was headed to a post-mortem meeting, and he was coming out of his green room. And those rooms are on the same hallway. And as he was heading for the door that goes out on the 54th street, he turned and caught my eye and said, ‘Hey, man. You do a great job: Whatever the (f_ _k) it is you do.’ I took that as the greatest compliment.” Colbert continued.
Stephen Colbert once covered Toby Keith’s song ‘Not As Good As I Once Was.’
Keith in a 2015 interview with ‘The Oklahoman‘ spoke about his unlikely friendship with Colbert.
“It’s just one of those really weird relationships that you stumble into once in a while where they work for all the wrong reasons, and it turned out for all the right reasons,” Keith said.
“I just sit back and smile because believe it or not, he’s the last person I thought would have got it, but he gets it.”
Credit: USA Today, The Oklahoman, Billboard, The List