Jon Bon Jovi to Join Stephen Colbert for Annual Montclair Film Festival Tribute Conversation (Exclusive)

Stephen Colbert has lined up Jon Bon Jovi as his guest for his annual Montclair Film Festival tribute conversation, The Hollywood Reporter has learned.

The Late Show host will sit down with the Bon Jovi frontman at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center in Newark, New Jersey on Saturday, Oct. 26 for an in-depth discussion of the New Jersey rocker’s career.

The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame band has sold more than 130 million albums and performed in more than 50 countries for more than 40 million fans. The group is also the subject of this year’s Hulu docuseries Thank You, Goodnight, which uses archival footage, songs and performances to chart the rise of the group from New Jersey clubs to some of the biggest stages across the globe.

“We are thrilled to welcome Jon Bon Jovi to the Montclair Film Festival and to share what promises to be a special evening of conversation,” Montclair Film artistic director and co-head Tom Hall said in a statement. “As an artist who embodies empathy and community, Jon’s work represents the values that inspire everything we do at Montclair Film. We look forward to a wonderful night.”

Tickets for the event will go on sale on Wednesday for Montclair Film and NJPAC members and on Friday for the general public. All proceeds from the evening will benefit Montclair Film, the New Jersey based arts organization with which Colbert has long been involved, which runs the Montclair Film Festival.

In addition to the festival, Montclair Film owns and operates Montclair’s art house theater The Clairidge and provides year-round film eduction, storytelling and community programs throughout New Jersey.

Past participants in Colbert’s Montclair tribute conversations include John Oliver, J.J. Abrams, Steve Carell, Julia Louis-Dreyfus, Meryl Streep and Martin Scorsese,

Colbert’s wife, Evelyn McGee Colbert is the president of Montclair’s board of trustees, with Colbert on an advisory board with Abrams, Jonathan Alter, Jon Stewart, Richard Curtis, Abigail Disney, Chiwetel Ejiofor, Patrick Wilson, Laura Linney, Julie Taymor and others.

The 13th Montclair Film Festival — featuring screenings of Conclave, Nightbitch, The Piano Lesson, Unstoppable, 2073 and more movies — is set to take place from Oct. 18-27.