Part awkward, part hilarious, and part just plain odd, “The Late Show’s” latest show stopper is a bit of a … head-scratcher.

For Wednesday night’s episode of “The Late Show” on CBS, Stephen Colbert joined the U.S. Supreme Court’s Associate Justice Ruth Bader Ginsburg in the Watergate Hotel gym in Washington, D.C., for a joint workout and some casual chitchat.

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“Washington is a tough place, particularly as we age. Well, there are lifetime Supreme Court appointments to maintain, chairmanships to protect — and staying in shape is a really important part of life in the capital city,” joked Fox News host Laura Ingraham on “The Ingraham Angle” Thursday night about the incident.

Before showing bits of Colbert’s segment, she shared some lighthearted comments about how her show had dropped in on “the Washington home for semi-retired liberals.”

With Colbert sporting a shirt and tie with shorts, and Ginsburg in a purple “Super Diva”-emblazoned sweatshirt, it was clear from the start that any semblance of a conventional interview would not be happening.

“The notorious RBG,” ever stoic, was a perfect though arguably unwitting foil to Colbert’s nutty antics.

For some, that contrast came off as patently disrespectful to our country’s oldest Supreme Court justice.

At age 85, though, RBG certainly held her own — not only in terms of the physical workout, but also in terms of fielding Colbert’s not-so-subtle probes into her pop culture savvy.

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He offered some silly banter about her nickname, for example. She jumped right in to explain that the name “copies ‘The Notorious B.I.G.,’ a famous rapper.” She also noted that she and Biggie share common geographical roots in Brooklyn, New York.

At many points, Colbert seemed to be giving it everything he had to engage the justice in some more animated interaction, but Ginsburg was having none of it. Her responses, though gracious, were pretty deadpan. Even Colbert’s nudging for Ginsburg to weigh in on the not-very-weighty matter of whether hotdogs are sandwiches was met with a smart though hardly comedic response.

As for the workout itself, Ginsburg’s moves were impressive for someone her age, and for one who has survived multiple bouts of cancer. Colbert may have been holding back a bit in saying he was “cramping” while following her routine; however, the generous belly he displayed at the beginning of the clip might actually make some of the moves, well … challenging for “The Late Show” host.

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Despite some awkward references to killing Tupac and a mild disagreement over appropriate musical fare for workouts (Ginsburg preferred opera recordings to Colbert’s “Everybody Dance Now”), many fans seemed to find the segment funny.

As is to be expected, it was all praises for the senior justice.

Michele Blood is a Flemington, New Jersey-based freelance writer and a regular contributor to LifeZette.

(photo credit, homepage and article images: “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert”)