EPISODE NUMBER: Season 1, Episode 12 (Wednesday, September 23, 2015)
GUESTS: Hugh Jackman | Hugh Evans | Elizabeth Warren | Pearl Jam
SEGMENTS: Happy Birthday to All | Mr. Pope Goes to Washington D.C. | Jon Batiste’s Tell-All | Hugh Jackman and Hugh Evans | Senator Elizabeth Warren | Pearl Jam | Pearl Jam - “Mind Your Manners” | Stephen Colbert & Pearl Jam - “Rockin’ in the Free World”
SUIT REPORT: Grey Suit | White Shirt | Black Spotted Tie

Monologue

Stephen opened tonight’s show with his common jovial gestures and smooth dance moves. Interestingly enough, he reveals that the classic rendition of the well-known “Happy Birthday” song has acquired publicity in its finally becoming an “open-domain” song.

This news brought back memories for Stephen of the days when he used to wait tables, and after some brief reminiscing of said profession, he recited how they used to be forced to sing the song (within the restaurant industry) due to copyright laws, or at least a close alternative version of how they would perform it:

It’s your birthday today, hay hay hay…
Eat your mousse and go away, hay hay hay.
We’re all gonna die anyway, hay hay hay …
Ah, F&*$ off.

In closing the opening segment, he stated that ‘studies show that there are still 4.2 billion people in the world who don’t have internet service … and three million of them are just waiting for the Time Warner Cable guy to show up.’ No truer words have ever been spoken. Ha.

Mr. Pope Goes to Washington D.C.

With all the anticipation surrounding Pope Francis being in the States, of course Stephen gets to verbalize his feelings about it too.

Can you smell-ell-ell-ell-ell the incense, because Pope Francis is now on American soil …

The Pope made headlines by being picked up from the airport in a modest Fiat, which Stephen referred to as a “motorized roller skate”. He then visited the White House, where he had a nice welcoming ceremony, before his afternoon nap, where in which he appeared to fall asleep during the event. We were advised to cut him slack as he’s got “serious jet-lag from being in Cuba yesterday, where the time zone difference was 1952”.

The whirlwind tour consists of further stops in DC, Philly and NYC. Stephen attests to his being a Pope Francis fan-boy, as he’s Catholic. He also touched base on how the Pope has worked on modernizing the Vatican. which some aren’t particularly fond of. Statements regarding climate change are also garnering unwelcoming reactions. Basically, what he’s asking is for us to change our position regarding carbon emissions. Though this delved into a joke which involved Stephen giving his classic high-five to his ‘under-the-desk-hand’ as well as said hand blessing him later.

Blows were thrown at Arizona Congressman Paul Gozer (referred to by Stephen as Supercuts ‘test model’) who announced he is boycotting Francis’ address to Congress, who feels as if his decisions on fighting climate change can be organized in his personal time.

Jon Batiste’s Tell-All

During this precious segment between Jon and Stephen, it was nice and refreshing to see Batiste interact more so than his occasional ‘yeah’ and listening to his wonderful musical chops go to town. Though it appeared Jon had another agenda in mind. Stephen addresses Jon with the question of whether or not he’s happy at the show - which Jon says he is, due to one reason being about to eat all the free S’more Pop-Tarts in the break room.

This answer doesn’t sit well with Stephen, and he becomes more inquisitive wanting to know why he saw the following book title in a bookstore this morning, “Underneath the Chuckles: Life, Laughs, Loss, Love and Learning (Behind the Scenes at The Late Show with Stephen Colbert)” by Jon Batiste.

Stephen has questions for Batiste, referencing particular lines from the book, where Jon has to psuedo-justify his appreciation for the opportunity to be the Late Show hosts’ band front-runner with remarks on Stephen’s kindness, as well as disclosing private information too, such as his ATM pin number and slipping in a few supposed ‘run-of-the-mill’ typos along the way. Meth v. Math. Not to mention, trivial information regarding giraffes from Wikipedia, as they’ve only been doing three-weeks worth of shows and the book needed additional filler. Who knew these items were only pushing the later product, an upcoming Lifetime movie entitled “16 Feet From a Monster - The Official Unauthorized Behind-The-Scenes Look in Front of the Scenes at The Late Show”, starring Harry Hamlin and Levar Burton. Hilarious.

Interview — Hugh Jackman and Hugh Evans

The first guests of the night were Australian actor Hugh Jackman and Global Citizen founder, Hugh Evans. Evans has a highly optimistic goal, to cease global poverty as soon as 2030 - just fifteen years from now. Though this may seem far-fetched to some, he believes that there is good outlook in sight and that our planet shouldn’t go through “useless suffering, and no child should die over something as small and simple as a missed vaccination.”

Hugh Jackman jumped on board immediately after meeting Evans and ending up having a three-hour long conversation at a conference in 2008.

One of the best things about this festival is how you are admitted in. No, there are no tickets being sold online or through any retail outlet. You must earn your way in through various acts of activism through organizations or causes in which you are proud of.

Interview — Senator Elizabeth Warren

Stephen welcomes onto the stage his next guest, Senator Elizabeth Warren. Sometimes referred to as the “Sheriff of Wall Street”, she stands by beliefs that our government system is rigged to cater to those of the middle and upper class, and not the average working citizen and believes it’s time for us to take our government back.

Though she isn’t running for office, she brought up some very valid points in her interview. We need to create investments in things that create opportunities, for education, infrastructure, and referenced these points in a historical context speaking from when 70 percent of America’s economic growth was between the years of 1930-1980, and touched on the topic of ‘trickle down economics’. Today, she stresses, part of America doesn’t just involve getting out, playing by the rules and know that there’s security existing, available education for our children without the fear of drowning in debt. She adds that this is a luxury in which we must get out and fight for.

Interview — Pearl Jam

The last guests on the show tonight were Stephen’s musical guests, the iconic band Pearl Jam. Eddie, Mike, Stone, Matt and Jeff have been together since 1990 without any break-ups, and they admit to having made it work that long because they are able to give one another space when necessary. Stephen suggested, or asked however, if they kept things fresh by ‘roleplaying’.

Pearl Jam backs Global Citizen because they were aware and inspired by how much of an incredible activist Hugh Evans is. This is their first time performing with the festival but have been backing it with their support from the very beginning. Once only using music to suggest change, they are now able to make these ideas more tangible, through various ways - ‘carbon neutral touring, freeing innocent men from prison, and even raising money for curing diseases’.

After the return from commercial break, Pearl Jam performed “Mind Your Manners”, followed by a second performance of the classic, “[Keep on] Rocking in the Free World”, in which Stephen joined in and donned some great 90’s-esque head-banging skills.

Wonderful episode tonight. Be sure to check out later shows this week. Also, feel free to keep the conversation going by adding comments regarding what you liked from tonight’s show.