Awwww, I just love it when Stephen’s guests show as much love for The Report‘s endearing host as his fans do. From The Irish Times:

Hannigan shenanigans
INTERVIEW: The Meath singer-songwriter Lisa Hannigan tells EOIN BUTLER about hard lessons learned on the road before making her critically acclaimed solo album

. . .

There’s no point in ducking the issue, I tell her. His name is bound to come up sooner or later. So we may as well get it out of the way to begin with. I want the plain, unvarnished truth here. What really happened between her and Stephen Colbert? The 28-year-old singer breaks into a delighted smile. I’m referring to her recent appearance on the highly rated US television show The Colbert Report. “It was an amazing experience,” she swoons. “I was so excited to be asked.”

. . .

“Doing The Colbert Report was just the best thing ever,” she admits with justifiable pride. It’s not just the show’s cachet which is impressive (senators, congressmen, admirals and generals are frequent guests). There’s also the fact that it isn’t actually a music show at all. Unlike its major network rivals, such as The Tonight Show with Jay Leno and Late Night with Conan O’Brien, where Hannigan had already performed to much bigger audiences, Colbert’s show is not a regular stop-off for musicians at all. To date, only a handful have ever been invited to appear. And the ones who have – Neil Young, REM and David Byrne among them – tend to be well established artists and personal favourites of the host.

As it happened, Colbert had come across a video that Donal Dineen shot of Hannigan and her band performing her composition I Don’t Know in a pub in Dingle. He insisted that his producers book her on the show. At the taping, the host even broke character (he plays a gormless, right-wing blowhard in the vein of Fox News’ Bill O’Reilly and Sean Hannity) to urge his fans – the so-called “Colbert Nation” – to buy Hannigan’s album. “I’m not sure if I’m supposed to say this,” she smiles, “because I know he plays that character and he mightn’t want people to know. But he’s actually a really, really lovely guy.”

. . .

Read the full interview (and learn what Hannigan is doing for a “thank you”) here

A great interview with an adorable guest. Have another look at Hannigan’s interview with Stephen here, and listen to her lovely song here:

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