Pedro Pascal Demands a Kiss From Stephen Colbert on The Late Show: “I Got Jealous”

Leave it to Pedro Pascal to walk onto a late-night set and immediately cause a five-alarm thirst emergency.

During the May 12 episode of The Late Show, The Last of Us star was introduced to promote his upcoming film, The Mandalorian & Grogu — but he made it immediately clear there was something else he wanted to do first. Pascal sat down, cheekily pouted his lips, then patted them with his fingers to suggest he wanted a kiss.

Subtle? Not exactly. Effective? Absolutely.

Pascal raised his eyebrows and continued pointing at his lips as Colbert tried to get on with the interview. “Glad to have you back. People may not know this…” Colbert said. Pascal refused to engage in the conversation and kept prompting for a smooch. Colbert stopped mid-sentence, leaned in, and kissed the actor on the lips.

“I got jealous!” Pascal exclaimed, as the audience roared. Colbert, seemingly unfazed, quickly replied, “What? No need — anytime.”

And just like that, the internet ceased to function normally.

The backstory? Moments before locking lips with Pascal, Colbert had shared a playful kiss with Julia Louis-Dreyfus during her segment. When Louis-Dreyfus prompted the addition of her name to Colbert’s kiss list, she whispered, “No one’s watching. It’s just between us.” The two locked lips, prompting Colbert to say, “Well, the interview is going great so far. Why don’t we do another take?”

Pascal, apparently watching from the green room with a growing case of FOMO, was not about to be left out.

The late-night host unofficially kicked off the kiss trend a day earlier when he smooched Jimmy Fallon on the May 11 episode, later joking about his growing list of famous on-set smooches. Colbert rattled off the names of famous people he has kissed on The Late Show, including Sally Field, Helen Mirren, Alison Janney, Jeff Daniels, and Andrew Garfield.

Colbert even tossed out a cheeky farewell, saying, “These lips will soon be free.” Which, given the show’s impending end, tracks perfectly.

The viral moments arrive as The Late Show nears its final bow. Colbert previously announced the series will conclude following CBS’ decision to cancel the show, with its final episode scheduled to air on May 21. The clip spread like wildfire, and fans had thoughts.

One commenter said on Instagram: “Ooof! I love how it is becoming more and more common in general culture to see affection between men. Such a basic baseline. This. Isn’t. Weird.” Another joked: “‘I got jealous’… I’m jealous!” And someone else gushed: “I love this so much. Gosh, if Pedro looked at me like that I would die. He’s so cute.” Not everyone was cheering, though.

A fourth wrote, “Colbert is having so much fun kissing the fine men on this show. First it was Andrew Garfield, now Daddy Pedro.” Meanwhile, some took issue with the kiss. “Lol ewww… Stephen being married,” wrote one person on X. Another asked: “Isn’t Stephen married?”

One fan on X begged, “ouuu do it again pedro,” while another was decidedly less amused: “Seriously? two grandpa doing this shit in a live interview… what is the world turning… no shame no decency anymore.”

Grandpas, you say? Pedro Pascal, 51, would like a word.

To make the moment even more endearing, Pascal later hopped onto Instagram to wish Colbert a happy birthday, proving the flirtatious late-night chaos apparently did not end when the cameras stopped rolling.

As for what brought Pascal to the Colbert couch in the first place, The Mandalorian & Grogu premieres in theaters on May 22. Safe to say the promo tour is off to a very memorable start.

Pascal is also currently filming De Noche, his first gay romance movie, where he plays a detective opposite Danny Ramirez as a boarding school teacher. Written by Todd Haynes and Jon Raymond, the plot sees the characters have an unexpected love affair as they’re targeted by the corrupt political machine of Los Angeles, then forced to flee to Mexico.

At this rate, Pedro Pascal could sneeze on live television and trend for 72 hours. And honestly? We’d click every time.