John Meacham, the editor of Newsweek, has asked Stephen Colbert to be the magazine's first-ever guest editor. Meacham told The New York Observer that he chose Colbert because of his "almost encyclopedic feel" for a wide range of topics.
As guest editor, Colbert helped hand out assignments and edit the cover of the June 8 issue, which will also feature a compilation of all the unpublished letters to the editor of Newsweek that Colbert has written since he was a child.
Click through today's TNR slideshow for a look at other celebrities who have been asked to guest edit influential magazines.
--Elizabeth Sher and Sharon Eliza Nichols
Photos courtesy of Newsweek and Comedy Central