August 15, 2012 — Santigold

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EPISODE NUMBER: 8139 (August 15, 2012)
GUESTS: Santigold | US Olympic Gymnastics Team
STAFF CAMEO: Jay Katsir (Jay the Intern)
EXCLUSIVES:  “Disparate Youth” | “Go!” | Timelapse
SEGMENTS: StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Rocktaugustfest Night Three | Fierce Five Interns | StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum | StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Santigold - “The Keepers”
SUIT REPORT: Admirals uniform | Gold shoulder epaulets | Sword | Fore and Aft hat with white feathers | Knee length boots
VIDEOS: Wednesday August 15th, 2012

StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Rocktaugustfest Night Three

Avast ye swabs! Welcome tonight three of StePhest Colbchella ‘012 Rocktaugustfest. Well, my friends. Well, my friends it’s been a great first two days but tonight, tonight Santigold.

Right now I’d like to take a moment, a very important moment to thank the people who made this possible. If by people you mean corporations and I usually do. The good people at Pepsi.

Now, I know… can somebody, anybody got a Pepsi? Throw me a Pepsi?

Now, I know… Now, I know the suits and the squares out there don’t want to hear this sort of talk but I enjoy the products marketed by the global snack-beverage companies PepsiCo. Suck on that “the man”.

Folks, folks I see now there’s a threat of storms coming in but I don’t want you to worry about lightening strikes because right now you are in the safest possible place, on the steel deck of an aircraft carrier.  Which, which I have had coated with teflon.  So, in case you get fried, it’s easy clean up, we’ll just hose you off into the Hudson.

Stephen: But that’s not going to happen because for your safety tonight I have installed a lightening rod.  Come on out here, Jay the Intern.  Jay, come on out.  Now Jay, thank you so much.

Jay the Intern: Stephen, are you sure this is safe?

Stephen: It’s absolutely safe, Jay.  Now raise, raise your copper safety wand.  Okay.  Now, just… a little higher.  Higher please. Higher. There you go.  Now, just stand there and pretend that you have health care.

Now, in the meantime let’s check in with my good friend, Stephen Colbert, up on the bridge of the intrepid.  Stephen, are you there?

Fierce Five Interns

Oh, hello! Come on over! Thank you so much! Oh, that’s lovely. Thank you so much. Oh, I could do that twice a night.

Here we are on the bridge of the Intrepid. In this exact replica of my studio. It’s really nice. Not as nice as the replica I had built at home but much nicer than the one on my jet.

Folks, it has been a great week of shows and I would like to give a shout out, right now, to all my interns who’ve worked so hard on this weeks concert. This is the last week for the summer interns and I just cannot thank you guys enough. Thank you so much!

But folks, we’ve got a new batch of interns and they might be the best ones to date.  Five bright, young, women who’ve just returned from some kind of study abroad program in London.

Stephen: Anyway, they’re very helpful and you know what, speaking of which, uh, I don’t have my pen.  Jay?  Jay the Intern, could someone bring me my pen, please?

Jay the Intern: Could you get this to Stephen?

The fierce five, everybody! And their even fiercer moms! Thank you so much, give it up! That was beautiful!

Wow, wow. That was just great. Damn, this is a blue pen. I wanted a black one and I… Oh, well. Oh, there it is!

StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Intrepid Sea, Air & Space Museum

You know who else is a winner, folks? The USS Intrepid. Built in 1943 this brave lady helped us win WWII, the Korean War, and Vietnam. Oh, people say we lost but she’s just waiting for the right moment to go back and kick some ass.

Stephen: Now, I noticed that you are, um, you are pregnant.

Jessica Williams:  I am.  Yep, yep.

Stephen:  Okay, at any point in this interview if you feel any contractions or you feel the baby coming just let me know and I will leave.

Jessica: Okay.

*

Stephen: I have an important ship related question for you.  The Intrepid is over 41,000 tons.  It’s solid steel as far as you can see.  How, uh, does it float?

Jessica:  Buoyancy of the ship is based on the, um,volume of the ship and how, how…

Beeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeeep

Jessica: Sorry, it just distracted me.

Stephen:  I apologize.  (To boat: I will be right there!)  What would they do with the airplanes when the Intrepid would submerge?  Would they strap them to the decks so they wouldn’t float off when the Intrepid would go under water.

Jessica:  Well, the Intrepid doesn’t go under water.

Stephen:  It used to, I mean, obviously it’s decommissioned, but it used to- used to go under water when the Japanese were hunting it.

Jessica: It’s not a submarine.  We do have a submarine-

Stephen: I know, I know there’s a submarine.  This is an aircraft carrier and it rarely went under water.  I’m sure rarely.

Jessica: Never went under water.

Let’s agree to disagree.

*

Colbechella:  More fun than a kamikaze attack!

*

Stephen:  Excellent, well, lets take a look at the ship.

Jessica:  Great. 

Stephen:  Oh, I’ll go.  I’ll go.  I’ll go. 

Stephen:  You wanna come?

*

Stephen:  So, Moreno, you served on the Intrepid?

Moreno:  Yes, I served on this ship in the spring of 1956.

Stephen:  Oh, fighting the Japanese.

Moreno:  No way. That was the Cold War.

Stephen:  Cold War… I don’t think we fought the Japanese in the Cold War.

Moreno:  No.  Eisenhower-

Stephen:  I remember him.

Moreno:  You remember him well.  He said, “Hey, we gotta send some guys over to Lebanon”.

Stephen:  I had no idea the Japanese were in Lebanon.

Moreno:  The Japanese were not in Lebanon.

Stephen:  Where were they?

Moreno:  I don’t know.  They were home making toys.

Stephen: Oh.

*

Can’t touch the planes Moreno, can’t touch the planes. They can go to war but they can’t take an old man touching them.

Moreno:  Alright, you know this guy Lew Chatham?

Stephen: Uh, Lew and I played squash together.

Moreno: Good.

Stephen:  Who’s Lew Chatham?

Moreno:  He’s a Lieutenant.

Stephen:  Do you know him?

Moreno:  No, he’s long gone.

Stephen:  Did you know about him when you asked me if I knew him?

Moreno:  No, I just want to see if you did know him.

Stephen:  Uh, were you testing me?

Moreno:  Yes.

Stephen:  How did I do?

Moreno: You did fine.

Stephen:  Alright, great. Am I in the Navy now?

Moreno:  I’ll sign you up.

Stephen: Is this part of the Top Gun training?

*

Stephen: Moreno, as a veteran, you served on the Intrepid.  I am requesting permission to rock the boat.

Moreno: Permission granted.

New York, New York, a helluva town.
The Bronx is up, but the Battery’s down.
The people ride in a hole in the ground.
New York, New York, it’s a helluva town!

StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Santigold

My guest tonight is an eclectic musician whose latest album is entitled Master of My Make-Believe. I can’t wait for the sequel: President of My Pretendies.

That’s 8.75, drive around to the second window please…

Stephen: When you were a record executive, would you have signed you or do you now seem like a risk to you then?

Santigold: I would definitely have signed me (Stephen: Really?) because I am a risk taker and that’s why I wasn’t a good record executive but back then-

Stephen:  How long ago are we talking about?

Santigold:  This was in the 90’s.

Stephen: Whoa!

Santigold: But this isn’t Puffy… “P-Diddy”.  I don’t know.  Puffy, he was Puffy then.

Stephen:  Sean Puff Daddy Combs. 

Santigold: This was like, in his prime hay day and it was just a race to just- anything he touched it was like, “sign this, sign this, sign this.”

Stephen: Did he touch you?

No, he didn’t. Proud to say.

You said, “I didn’t see myself as a songwriter, I felt myself as a songwriter.” And I admire that. I like, I think, I like coming from the gut.

Santigold: Right.

Stephen: Do you sing from the gut?

Santigold: In the writing process, I definitely… the impulse is from the gut.  Like, there’s no thought in it at all.  

Stephen: I find, sometimes, that my gut mouth sounds better than my face mouth.

Santigold: What? What?

Stephen: For me, there is… there’s the gut where your bouncing it out there.

Santigold: Yes.

Stephen: Then there’s the face voice, which is: you’re making noises but-

Santigold: But you’re like, controlled.

Stephen: Your guts aren’t behind it.

Santigold: Got it.

Stephen: Are you gut mouth or face mouth?

Santigold: I think, it’s probably a balance between both to be honest.

StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - Santigold - “The Keepers”

I walk blind with smoke in my eyes
It’s like we don’t know where we been
That’s it, boy, just state your case
You’re just as wrong as you were then
One tough move throw your hands up
Say I don’t make no rules
No one even knows I’m here
Now its on you to man up
You say no weight’ll hang on what you say

We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
Down, down it burns down
Our house is burning down

Ask me why a dream gets you by
But let it want, turns a dangerous thing
Watch out for it, it snakes right past
Then turns around and it sucks you in
What happens when you get stuck
Get to the bottom of the illusion that you’re in
From the roots now it’s shook up
Know that what ails without will do you in

We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
Down, down it burns down
Our house is burning down

And not a thing I’ve done
Abates my fear
And not a thing I’ve done
Abates my fear
And still although our hearts can’t run
We are gone
We are gone
On the heels of all we have done, know

We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
We’re the keepers
While we sleep in America
Our house is burning down
Our house is burning
Down, down it burns down
Our house is burning down

Sign Off - StePhest Colbchella ‘012 - T-Mobile Goodnight

Stephen: Well folks, that’s it for night three of Colbechella.  Remember, if it’s too loud you’re too old or it could be that increased sensitivity to noise is a sign of early onset fibromyalgia.

Grandmaster Flash: See your doctor immediately.

Stephen: Thank you Flash.  Goodnight everybody.

  • CN Helper

    I really enjoyed Santigold last night. I liked her unique musical style, and the reggae-ish second song was awesome. I could totally see why Stephen had her in the fest. I’ll picking her stuff for sure.

    • Kris

      For sure! Her song really seemed to hold a similar vision to much of Stephen’s satirical work. It was almost uncanny.

    • Karenatasha

      I already downloaded her album. I was going to anyway… but this was additional motivation.

  • Mr. Arkadin

    I liked Stephen’s tip o’ the hat to TCR’s interns. Which led to the “new interns” bringing Stephen a pen. (The wrong one of course. But hopefully Stephen will cut them some slack and let them continue to work for no money anyway.)

    But my absolute favorite part was the “On The Town” finale of the Better Know An Aircraft Carrier. (The Fightin’ Intrepid!) I went to bed singing that in my head. It was so joyful!
    And it will always amaze me what the power of the Stephen can get people to do.

    • Erika

      Me too! I’m a big classic movie musical nut so it’s always fun to see something like that. It seemed like the pregnant woman was very unamused in the beginning but it must have been an act because she really put herself into the song. :) Stephen can sing Gene Kelly songs any time he wants to, I’ll be ready!

      Ugh, no shows next week? They deserve it more than usual even, with all they’ve done putting these shows together but I’m still going to be sad.

    • Kris

      I was basically squealing with joy when the US Olympic Gymnastics team did their thing on the show and I second Mr. Arkadin’s approval of the nod to Stephen’s actual interns. It was awesome to see how many young people get such an amazing experience. Also, I’m guessing if Stephen allows us to continue to work for free (without taking *ahem* legal action to stop us SOPA style) then he’ll make exception for the current sweethearts of the nation as well. I have to say I stopped being surprised at the power Stephen has to get others to do things shortly after those kind folks waived the fish at the Canadian border to lure Stephen Jr. home. ^_^

      As for the Broadway tune… let’s just say I’ve been very tempted to pop in the DVD of the film ever since last night’s show.

      @ Erica- Do you suppose we (the Nation) could coerce him and Jon to parody Gene and Donald’s “Moses Supposes His Toeses are Roses”?

    • Karenatasha

      New York, New York, it’s a wonderful town.
      The Bronx is up and the Battery’s down.
      The people ride in a hole in the ground.
      NEW YORK, NEW YORK…IT’S A HELLUVA TOWN!

      I couldn’t resist. Leonard Bernstein, Betty Comden, & Adolph Green. And my city. Cheers to the creators! And cheers to Stephen for grabbing the occasion to sing that fabulous standard, and to the two very game employees of the Intrepid museum.

      Loved the interview, loved the gymnasts (especially Gabby!) and love, love, love Santigold.

  • Mr. Arkadin

    Oh crap! I just saw that their off next week! (And Monday Aug. 27th) I know they work like dogs and I don’t begrudge them time off. But it still sucks when their off the air.

  • llama

    I loved the time lapse video they put up. Just shows you how much work went into it. Looks like it took at least two days just to set everything up, plus all the planning beforehand.

    I was kind of surprised that they are off next week, that means they will probably take just Labor Day off? usually they take that whole week.

    Kris, how do you get that amount of info up so quickly? I bow to you. Love all the pics!

    • Karenatasha

      Just Labor Day, llama, according to the schedule. I think the kids will be back in school by then, so maybe Jon and Stephen are looking at some time with the family before classes start.

    • Kris

      Wow, I can’t believe someone actually checked it out so quickly! Glad you enjoyed it. To answer your question: my ashtray is full and my coffee table is covered in pop cans. I have no other explanation for how it is possible ^_^

      I also thought the time lapse video was super sweet and even managed to watch it twice during the night. Once just wasn’t enough. Reminded me a little Naqoyqatsi series. Stephen needs to stop making me want to watch movies!

  • Roseha

    I loved seeing the Olympic Gymnastic team as well, what a delight and fun for the audience. and the moms too of course! These shows have been great all week, will have to watch again for the musical numbers. Stephen seemed to be making Santigold crack up but it was fun watching it.