NPR has the skinny on some of the musicians scheduled to appear on The Colbert Report, including one rarely-seen group (rarely seen on U.S. TV, that is) set for tomorrow night’s show. From NPR:
Rush to make rare TV performance on ‘Colbert’
from The Associated PressNEW YORK July 15, 2008, 02:02 pm ET · Rush will be appearing on “The Colbert Report,” and it’s not Limbaugh.
The Canadian band Rush, which hasn’t performed on U.S. television in more than three decades, will play their classic “Tom Sawyer” on the Comedy Central show Wednesday (11:30 p.m. EST). The Geddy Lee-led trio, which is currently on tour, hasn’t played on U.S. television since 1975.
. . .
Colbert’s enthusiasm for the music has been easily apparent. He’s sung the Star Spangled Banner (in two-part harmony) with Legend, and mocked the MTV-style band interview by questioning R.E.M. from a stool twice the size of those the band sat on.
Full article, including other upcoming guests, available here
Rock on, Stephen!
Rush! Hahah, yes!!
There’s a leather jacket hung up in the studio somewhere that has a band on it. I think it was Rush.
(thats a lovely picture of him, by the way!)
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I was about to say…nice pic…nice smile.
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i agree about the picture. :)
I’m not a huge fan of rush, but Stephen getting them on the show is great!
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Rush and three additional musical guests just in July! Oh man…Stephen better sing with at least one of these guests. And may I just say that I’m thrilled that TCR is being compared to The Ed Sullivan Show, although TCR is actually even better in my book because of the important issues that it takes on.
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I’m not too crazy about the musical guests. One every now and then can’t hurt though. Just hope it doesn’t start taking over political guests on the show.
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I like most of the musical guests he’s hosted so far. In addition to being musical, many of them have been quite politically active (Neil Young, John Legend, Carole King, etc.) and, although that’s hardly a prerequisite for my liking them, it often makes for decent interviews.
I find Stephen’s eagerness to continue hosting Toby Keith pretty baffling (and I *really* wish he could get the Dixie Chicks to play, partly because I love them and partly because I just want them to be able to balance the all the Toby Keith we’ve been subjected to), but I’d say that the musician interviews are no worse (and often much better) than the usual round of talk show interviews of the actors/actresses hawking their latest movies.
Ultimately, I guess it’s a testament to Stephen’s success as an interviewer that he seems to be able to speak engagingly (and entertainingly) with so many people of so many differing backgrounds.
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To be fair, Toby Keith also has a movie coming out. Why they put Toby Keith in a movie–a starring role, no less!–is beyond me.
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I agree that Stephen should have the Dixie Chicks on the show. They seem more like it-getters than Toby Keith does. He always looks like he has no idea why he’s on the show. Besides, I think it’d be fun to see Stephen baiting the Dixie Chicks. :)
I too love the Stephen photo. *sigh*
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you know, i think it’s ’cause i’m biased with the type of music he brings to the show. he seems to focus more on Rock or country, and i grew up on R&B and hip hop. so while i enjoyed john legend, i didnt enjoy REM and some of the others.
as for Nas, i dont often listen to his music specifically, but he’s a decent rapper. he’s not as trashy as some of the other folks out there today.
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I don’t get excited about the musical guests themselves as much as the possibility of Stephen singing:) Wouldn’t it be great if Stephen ended each show with a song? The song could somehow relate to a topic or theme of the show that night.
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I’d be willing to bet they booked musical guests so heavily in July in anticipation of a possible SAG strike.
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Or the RNC and DNC.
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Nas? NAS??? Oh dear God.
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a rapper!?!!? I’m going to a taping to see a rapper!?!? WHAT IS THIS?
(time to go research/download some Nas)
as I think a little more on this, there is the potential for this to be really really cool…
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Stephen, rap? Um, no.
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Haha. I think Stephen recognized he wasn’t doing the most stellar job there, but it wasn’t that horrific.
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That is actually what makes that segment so funny for me. He’s completely clueless about rapping!
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Great picture of Stephen!
One thing that I like about TCR is that it covers a variety of topics and types of guests. I have enjoyed all of the musical guests so far. I have been amazed at some of the people he has been able to get on the show and I always welcome the possibility of seeing Stephen perform with a musical guest.
According to the Late Night TV page, Garret Reisman is scheduled to appear on the July 24th show. I was very excited to see that!
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Yes! I love it when he has astronauts on the show. Remember how giddy he was when Jim Lovell appeared on the show?!
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Buzz Aldrin is scheduled to be the guest on July 31st. That should be a good one too.
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Wow. That will be out of this world! Bad pun. Thanks for the heads up Jenny!
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Oops! I misspelled Reisman’s name. It’s Garrett Reisman not Garret Reisman.
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Nas and Toby Keith?
Oi…count me out. Call me when Stephen decides to bring Rufus Wainwright on.
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Heh. I’ll admit to being intrigued by the Nas booking, although I agree with you on the Toby Keith (again) bit. I’m not as familiar with Nas as I am with some of his sometime rivals/collaborators (Jay-Z and Kanye, for instance), but I think the interview has great potential.
I agree that Rufus Wainwright would be an interesting interviewee, though (or Sufjan Stevens or Arcade Fire or … ).
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Oh no! The dreaded stool is back! Quick! Someone get Stephen a codpiece!
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RRRRRRRRUUUUUUUUUUUUUSSSHHHHHHHH!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!!! God I’m so happy!
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Jordan Schlansky (one of Conan’s producers, there are some hilarious remotes of him on the NBC site) will be so happy.
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WHy will he be happy?
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This is gonna be a good one! :-D
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I’m looking forward to this. Reminds me of Caress of Steel, and how much I wanted to play like Geddy Lee.
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SALESmen!
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Rush is the bane of my [very Canadian] existence. Particularly “Tom Sawyer”. I cannot beat it on Rock Band to save my life.
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I could care less about Rush, look forward to seeing Nas…
But what really is interesting is that picture! Niiiice
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I love the musical guests. I always pray that Stephen will sing as well. More so than the guests sometimes.
ReCaptcha: Morrisania users
What the heck is that?
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Rush! Woo Hoo! This will be Canadian maple sugar sweet. And I’m obviously showing my age here, but I don’t know Nas… however I will watch, learn and enjoy (as I enjoy every TCR… even when Toby Keith shows up again).
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I forgot to mention- totally stoked for Nas. I hope there’s an interview portion to his being on The Report. I’d love Stephen to nail him about (or explore the concept of) the original title of his album (which, for those unfamiliar with Nas, is not family-friendly in the slightest, so I suggest you google it).
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could you tell me why you are stoked? I want to borrow some of your stokedness, cuz that’s the day of my taping, and it would be great to be REALLY exciting, yknow?
for example, if I $25 to throw away, what Nas could I buy to get acquainted with the guy? or better, what song might he do on the Report? I kinda like rap in general, so I would probably continue listening beyond next week.
sorry if I am asking questions you cannot answer…if anyone can answer them, I would be appreciative!
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Try rhapsody.com. You can listen to up to 25 songs a month for free. If I want to hear what a song or an artist sounds like, I go there before shelling out for iTunes.
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oh, thanks! I’ll definitely check on that!
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Oddly enough (or perhaps not, considering the man DOES have a new album out), CNN featured a piece on Nas today. It’s a pretty quick read, and confirms my belief that this has the potential to be an interesting interview.
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merci! I will get right on reading that. I want to be the informed audience member, and I assume CNN will pick out the stuff that I should bother to know.
oh please have an interview.
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The reason I’m so stoked in Nas being on the Report is that he’s a really interesting guy to listen to, much in the same way that Kanye West is when he’s passionate about something. I’ve been wanting to hear about the reasoning behind his album title in his own words, and I really think this could be an amazing interview (if in fact it turns out to be an interview).
As for his music, one song that I really intensely like is “Bridging the Gap” featuring Olu Dara (who is actually Nas’s dad and a jazz master). I definitely recommend giving that a listen.
Have an amazing time at the show!
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