TDS/TCR (Drop the gun. Take the cannoli.)

Die Like A Dog

The real news and this week’s guests below.

This week’s guests-

The Daily Show

• Tuesday 11/11: Samantha Power
• Wednesday 11/12: Steve Carell
• Thursday 11/13: Maziar Bahari, Gael Garcia Bernal

The Colbert Report

• Tuesday 11/11: Diane Von Furstenberg
• Wednesday 11/12: Terence Tao
• Thursday 11/13: Jennifer Lawrence

Stephen Colbert’s Questlove: Imagining the new “Late Show” band

Matthew Pulver, Salon

Monday, Nov 10, 2014 07:00 PM EST

Letterman’s bandleader Paul Shaffer will also be leaving, as will, one assumes, Shaffer’s crew in the CBS Orchestra. So here’s the major question that no one is asking: Whom will Colbert select to play him in each night?

…

CBS Entertainment chief Nina Tassler reported in July that Colbert was still deciding on whether to have a house band. It is difficult to imagine, however, that Colbert, a musician himself with a lifelong passion for music, would opt to forgo the opportunity to assemble his own house band. In fact, evaluating his choices during the nine years of “The Report” presents some possible – if highly speculative – candidates for the job.

…

So Costello leaps out as a possible bandleader. Exhibit A: Costello hosted the “Late Show” in 2003 when Letterman was out recovering from an eye infection. Costello’s charisma and on-camera ease would make him a good fit as a Shaffer-like sidekick in addition to his musical duties. Costello’s sharp, often sardonic wit and shared rapport with Colbert would make for entertaining banter, a staple of late-night shows. The two have even performed together four times on “The Report,” something that might become a feature of a Colbert/Costello “Late Night,” much like Jimmy Fallon’s frequent musical collaborations with the Roots crew. Importantly, Costello might bring longtime keyboard player Steve Nieve into the new house band. Nieve served as bandleader for popular U.K. late night host Jonathan Ross during the 1980s.

…

Seminal college rock band R.E.M. performed on the show, and frontman Michael Stipe returned to perform in an unlikely trio with Colbert and ’70s electronic pioneer Brian Eno. David Byrne of the Talking Heads has appeared twice. Other artists from the era appearing on “The Report” help round out Colbert’s tastes at the time: Chrissie Hynde of the Pretenders, Philip Glass, Iggy Pop and Cheap Trick.

The Cars were “a huge band” for Colbert, and Cars frontman Ric Ocasek is a “longtime friend of the show,” appearing on the show as both a musical guest and as an actor in bits. Ocasek is a heralded producer in his post-Cars career, so he’d likely be able to enlist a number of great musicians to form a house band.

…

Colbert is, after all, a consummate nerd, and since Costello he appears to have sought similarly sophisticated lyricists. Musical guests like the Decemberists, Vampire Weekend, the Mountain Goats, Andrew Bird and Ben Gibbard (of Death Cab for Cutie and Postal Service) all point to this preference for ultra-literary indie pop artists. That tendency is confirmed by a whole host of invited artists from the indie intelligentsia: Grizzly Bear, Pavement, Wilco (and frontman Jeff Tweedy, solo), Feist, the Ben Folds Five, TV on the Radio, Bon Iver, Arcade Fire, St. Vincent and the National.

…

Ben Folds, though, stands out as a real contender. Colbert has already said that he wants Ben Folds to perform his song “Best Imitation of Myself” on “The Colbert Report’s” last show, with Colbert accompanying in duet. Folds is a composer and arranger, and he debuted his first piano concerto this year with the Nashville Symphony. Folds has served as judge on NBC’s “The Sing-Off” for three seasons, proving his comfort with on-the-spot television work.

…

Colbert’s tastes in hip-hop tend toward the more high-brow “lyricist,” distinguished from the mere “rapper.” Outside of an appearance by Snoop Dogg – very much a rapper, not a “lyricist” – the show has exclusively featured lyrically advanced artists, such as Lupe Fiasco, Nas, pre-Fallon-era Roots, and the RZA. “The Report” even hosted a rare performance from Black Star, a now-defunct duo of lyricists Talib Kweli and Yasiin Bey (formerly Mos Def).

It doesn’t appear that Colbert is a big hip-hop fan, but R&B star John Legend has appeared on the show more than any other artist. Legend, with his willingness to be outspoken on political and cultural issues, would be an apt interlocutor for Colbert. It certainly doesn’t hurt that Legend is telegenic, young and a potential means to attract a wider demographic.

But in the end, barring a dark horse who’s never appeared on “The Report,” it’s difficult to imagine anyone other than Costello taking the spot as bandleader. As of right now, Costello has hosted the “Late Show” more times than Colbert. He’s Colbert’s favorite musician, and they’re friends. It all adds up.

Samantha Power is Obama’s Bag Woman at the U.N. (a Bag Person holds on to the incriminating evidence for the Capo, like the swag or the smoking gun, while the Capo plans and commits the crime).  I don’t expect Jon will perform miracles and get her to break the rules of omerta on national talevision (the Bag Person is supposed to take the fall after all), but it will be interesting to see if he asks any tough questions or merely whores Rosewater.

Diane Von Furstenberg can’t use the title “Princess” since her divorce and is famous for the re-introduction of the “wrap” dress.  She’s been a leading fashion designer since the ’70s and will be on promoting her new book of Memoirs.