jon batiste. absolutely beautiful, jon. thank you so much. >> stephen: it's funny, i laughed, i cried, i was moved. it's beautiful to lookality. only one complaint-- need more jon batiste. not enough jon batiste. >> jon: i always love more jon batiste. we have to get the people more jon batiste. i'm with it. >> stephen: people can go get this album, too, right? >> jon: it's out right now. you can stream it, and vinyl, too, for the vinyl listeners. >> stephen: of course, of course. it makes the animation much warmer. >> jon: right, right. >> stephen: well, jon, do you have-- do you have anything-- i know you wrote these jazz compositions. anything you can play for us that is inspired by what you were inspired to write in "soul." >> jon: yeah. ♪ ♪ >> stephen: you got the gig, teach. jon batiste, everybody. you know, i spend a lot of time slowly braising the day's most topical veal shanks in white wine, topping it with the timeliest gremolata and newsiest beef stock, to prepare for you the three michelin-star osso bucco that i

hello, jon batiste. >> jon: hello, hello, peace in my soul. what's happening to you?weekend? did you let it all go? what did you do? >> jon: i watched a movie you sent me. >> stephen: what was that movie. >> jon: delgado's movie "in and of itself." man, i don't know how to describe what the movie is but go see it. it tells you about yourself in a way you don't realize until the end. i loved it. it was amazing. >> stephen: i'm so glad. we're really proud of it. evie and i produced it, frank oz directed it. it's available on hulu starting friday. >> stephen: check it out. i loved it. i'm going to watch it again if the link still works that you sent me. >> stephen: i'll get you my hulu password if it doesn't. so glad you liked it. jon batiste, do you have any music you're inspired to play for us as we go out? >> jon: yeah. you know who... ♪♪ >> stephen: happy king day. >> jon: yes, indeed. >> stephen: jon batiste, everybody. folks, this week it isn't just the president who's leaving the white house, because melania trump is also getting ready to make the transition from

let's say hello to jon batiste. hello, jon batiste. it is an historic day. other historic day here in the land of the free, the home of the brave. how are you feeling? >> jon: they just keep coming. they just keep coming. i'm feeling very raw, exposed. my innards are exposed. ( laughs ) it feels... it feels like i'm searching for magic that is left in the world that i have faith is left in the world. i'm searching for it. i want to balance out all the rift of the stuff that's coming in, with a little bit more magic to kind of heal myself, you know. >> stephen: yeah. i saw a little bit of magic today. we saw some people voting against their own personal political interests for the good of the country. that was-- that was satisfying. that made me-- that gave me some hope. >> jon: yeah, bu nda ltle biu know? >> stephen: hey, man, hey man, the 11th hour convert gets the same pay that the other workers in the vineyard does. do i have to send you a book? >> jon: i know what you're talking about. >> stephen: jon, do you have anything patriotic at your fingertips? >>

jon batiste, thank you so much -- >> hey! "we are," there we go. you can watch him on the "late show with stephen colbert" weeknights right here on cbs. >> cool. >> the book -- i got a tease. i need my glasses, they're fogging up. >>> a new book tries to make it easier for families to understand the complexities of paying for college. here's what's so complex about it. you don't have the money. it's a lot. we're going to talk with the author of a book who will give us the true cost of schools and how >>> alex thinks we can afford tuition, and we can't. we need t to tell her the truth. >> we always tell the truth. that's what we always say. >> i think we should do it. >> not going to do it. >> me neither. >> we've got to lie about evererything. that's what parents do. >> will ferrell and amy poehler'r's characters got desperate trying to pay for college in their 2017 movie "the ho the biggest financial decision your family will ever make." we have more now. i'm glad you're here. i want to get into the cost of college. i want t

>> stephen: jon batiste, do you have any juju in your fingers you can share with us? y. "we are" is available for pre-orderedder now. check it out. >> jon: oh, yeah, we're rollin'. >> stephen: folks, everybody knows that the biggest story in america is that the super bowl match up is set! february 7, super bowl lv, the biggest night in men's football! there's no better way to watch hurtling slabs of meat in shiny pants sell car insurance! the big game will pit the tampa bay buccaneers against the kansas city chiefs. pirates versus native americans? okay, now they're just ripping off my un-produced screenplay that everyone called "deeply problematic" and "geographically inconsistent," "dances with parrots." time for costner's comeback. call me, kevin. best of all, this year's super bowl is only on cbs! so, stay tuned after all the kicking, man-tackling action for a very special "the late show: super bowl edition!" think of me as the eighth layer on your dip. think about it. think of me on your tip. i'll wait. this is a quarterback match up for the ages. for the buccanee

jon batiste, everybody. > stephen: joining me now is a vermont senator and former presidential candidate who has spent over 30 years advocating for progressive causes. please welcome senator bernie sanders! senator, thank you so much for being here. >> my pleasure. >> stephen: it's been eight days since domestic terrorists urged on by the president of the united states stormed and vandalized the capitol building. where were you when this all started? >> i was in the senate, participating in the debate as to whether or not we certify biden's election as president, and, stephen, it was clearly to me one to have the more depressing and memorable days in american history certainly since i have been involved in politics to believe that we have a president who incited a riot which called for insurrection and really threatened the well being of members of the house and senate. it was a frightening and at the pressing day. >> stephen: the day was depressing before the violent attack. >> yes. >> stephen: because you h

>> jon: jon batiste, everybody. thank you, jon. >> stephen: yes, indeed. later on.folks, i spend a lot of time carefully soldering the most topical super-conductive circuit boards, crafting the newsiest lightweight carbon fiber limbs studying human movement patterns, and balancing precision internal gyroscopes to create the cutting-edge state-of-the-art boston dynamics robot that is my monologue. but sometimes, i like to snort some bath salts, break in to an abandoned toys-r-us, dig through the bin of defective rejects, and glue some busted parts together to create the demented franken-furby of news that is my segment: "quarantinewhile!" quarantine-while, "a harvard professor has claimed in his new book that alien debris passed near earth in 2017," and that the object actually "could have been alien space junk." i don't know. alien garbage sounds a little far-fetched. let's take a look. whoa! i don't know if it's garbage, but that definitely appears to be someone's junk. please, have your alien spayed or neutered. not cool, aliens. that is a straight-up interstellar

jon batiste, everybody.e hit the ground pen first, signing an unprecedented 17 executive actions to dismantle his predecessor's legacy. look that photo! at last, the resolute desk is than tv tray to hatohing other evie laughing ) president biden signed orders to halt construction on the border wall, end the muslim travel ban, and revoke approval of the keystone xl pipeline. he's reversing everything from the last four years, even taking puerto rico off craigslist, and getting rid of the warning label on bleach that says "yum, yum." biden is also sending a powerful message to the international community: "baby, we're sorry! we're just going through some stuff. please take us back." the united states upon rejoining the paris climate accord and the world health organization. the three things his predecessor hated most: the world, health, and organization. he's not stopping at day one. with this spirit week at the white house, we've got themes, baby. thursday's the pandemic. friday's the economy. and next week,

it's time to check in with jon batiste. jon, are you there? >> jon: i'm there.tting it at this point. jon, you have an extraordinary song about the vice president to share. tell me how this song came about. we a lot about it this past year. >> jon: yes, i wanted to write a song that had that early two 00 r&b feel about a beautiful woman but it's not about her beaut. it's about her accomplishments. she is one of the most accomplished people in history and it struck me. >> stephen: i could not agree more and here it is "kamala" by jon battiste. >> jon: it's not just about the v.p. for me. it's about the m.v.p. you know, "most vice- presidential. and, to me, it's obvious. ♪ senator harris i'm not embarrassed ♪ pronounce it right, cuz she's kamala ♪ she's bringing sass and plexiglass ♪ my debate queen make the ticket complete, sweet ♪ freaking out mikey p. chew him up like a piece of meat ♪ that's why you're my v.p. you're my m.v.p. ♪ that's why you're my v.p. you're my m.v.p. ♪ she's a pioneer never been a black or asian ♪ woman here oh, ohhh ♪ full of spunk in the

colbert oh, yeah ♪ >> stephen: jon batiste, everybody. spend most of my time with a snifter of fine armagnac at my elbow, laying out the newsiest, most compelling plots, constructing the most topical characters, and composing the timeliest lyrical metaphors to bring you the pulitzer-worthy magnum opus of a novel that is my monologue. but sometimes, sometimes i like to pound a rack of bootleg four loko, deface a bunch of cutouts from fashions mags with a sharpie and slap 'em together with glue sticks, then hijack my brother-in-law's office printer and run down the toner, cranking out the deranged, underground 'zine of news that is my segment: >> quarantine-while. >> stephen: quarantine-while, if you're still not sure what to do with your loved one on valentines, there's some great news: "white castle is transforming restaurants into drive-ins for the night," complete with "carhop service." the way you celebrate valentines sends a message. and white castle is the perfect way to say, "our love is gratifying in the short term, but i will lose

jon batiste, everybody. tephen: folks, i spend most of my time special ordering the day's newsiest, most topical components, like a tenth-gen intel core i9 c.p.u., a gigabyte x-570 aorus xtreme motherboard and n-vidia g-force rtx 3090 graphics card, then carefully mounting it all in a tempered glass case with liquid cooling, r.g.b. lighting, and 750-watt p.s.u. to build for you the sleek, over-clocked, custom gaming p.c. that is my monologue. but sometimes, sometimes, folks, i like to huff a couple whippets, hop the razor wire at the garbage dump, strip the cables out of an old lite brite, steal the battery pack from a discarded r.c. copter, and run them to the cracked screen of a busted-out flip-phone to create the riverside vagrant tetris console of news that is my segment: "quarantinewhile!" quarantine-while, new research shows that smooshy-faced cats can't show emotion. oh no! they can't express their full range of normal cat emotions, from scornful, to condescending, to "really, you're going out dressed

>> jon: yes, indeed. ♪ >> stephen: jon batiste, everybody. r ) >> stephen: joining me tonight is the woman who delivered georgia to joe biden through her organization, "fair fight," and who hopes to make history with tomorrow's senate election. please welcome, stacey abrams! ms. abrams, thank you so much for coming back! >> thank you for having me again. >> stephen: happy election eve, nice to see you again. we haven't seen you since right after the election. i want to talk about the election tomorrow of, obviously, rafael warnock and ossoff who are running tomorrow, but i want to talk about this tape released over the weekend with the president pressuring raffensperger to find votes in georgia that would give the win to the president. your name comes up a couple of times in that. have you heard the recording? >> i did indeed listen. >> stephen: the president says that -- he says that stacey is laughing at you, to raffensperger. she's laughing at you. could you characterize the laugh? is it a giggle, more like a -- ( maniacal laugh ) -- with t

>> jon: oh, yeah. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: jon batiste, everybody. thank you, jon. >> jon: yes, indeed.irst guest tonight is a "new york times" best-selling author and the former director of the f.b.i. please welcome to "a late show," james comey. director, thanks for being here. >> thanks for having me, stephen. >> stephen: i'm surprised a man of your height can fit into a zoom box. ( laughter ). >> i'm jammed into a little box. >> stephen: okay. now, i am not entirely sure where to begin. i want to get to your new book, "saving justice," because i think that has particular resonance right now. but before we get into that, i want to talk about the events of this last week and your perspective on working for this administration. the president, as you said in your last book, asked you for loyalty seven days after his inauguration. and we have sort of the dangerous repercussions of the need for that kind of blind loyalty to president trump. obviously, most disturbingly, last wednesday, but then in the excuses and the obfuscations being made by the sort of spineless members of the party wh

jon batiste. hello, jon! ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: hey! jon batiste, everybody. thank you, jon! know, i spend a lot of time tanning the finest leather from the most topical cattle, meticulously dip-dyeing it in a solution of the day's biggest stories, then hand cutting and stitching it into the must-have louis vuitton handbag that is my monologue. but once in a while, i scour my backyard for a damp stick, tie a blood-stained bandana i got from a biker named barracuda to it, and fill it with trinkets, a can of beans, and what might be a human thumb to create the foul hobo bindle of news that is my segment: "quarantine-while!" q-while: the navy's new uss "ford" is having some problems. apparently, the "most expensive aircraft carrier ever built cannot launch fighter jets." let me fix that headline for you. "navy launches $13 billion house boat." they've been trying to get it to work for years, but "the testers said the trouble was with the uss 'ford's' new high-tech aircraft takeoff and landing systems," an "electromagnetic catapult and catch system that keeps breaking." i got to

jon batiste, everybody.d shahg their wool, hand-weaving it on my solid oak story loom, then dyeing it with the purest word-pigment money can buy to bring you the fine, aran isle sweater that is my monologue. but sometimes, sometimes, i like to trap a garbage raccoon, sedate it with some expired children's cough medicine, shave its tail with a box cutter, then use some leftover chop sticks to knit it all into the trailer park crop top of news that is my segment: "quarantine-while!" quarantine-while, a couple in canada is facing legal trouble for breaking quebec's new covid rules, where walking your dog is one of the only things allowed after 8:00 p.m. but police caught a woman "walking her husband on a leash after curfew." police were going to punish the husband, but turns out, he was into it. quarantine-while, you may already know that notorious cocaine lord pablo escobar famously and illegally imported a bunch of hippos to colombia. well, now, scientists warn: colombia's cocaine hippos must be stopped. flor

i was so happy with it. >> stephen: jon batiste, everybody, thank you, jon. spend a lot of time picking the timeliest story apples, grinding them into the perfect topical extract and mixing it with cinnamon, maple syrup, allspice and other seasonally-apt aromatics to brew the gourmet artisanal hot apple cider mug that is my monologue. but once in a while, i dump some apple shasta and grain alcohol into a one-gallon ziploc bag, add some crushed up fruit bits i picked out of an old fig newton, and the rind of a jack-o'- lantern left outside since halloween, toss in some yeast, and ferment it under my mattress, then strain it through a sock to create the contraband toilet-hooch of news that is my segment: >> "quarantine-while!" >> stephen: quarantine-while, according to a new study, your dog doesn't really know what you're talking about. you can see all the details in the prestigious "new england journal of that's what we assumed." quarantine-while, a physicist discovered a new way to make cheap n95 masks by using a cotton candy machine. that is awesome. but, ho

featuring jon batiste and stay homin'. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater office building in new york city, it's stephen colbert! >> stephen: hey, everybody? welcome to "a late show." i'm your host stephen colbert. you know, when i saw the events at the capitol last wednesday, i was more upset than i can ever remember. i think i said so on air, and a lot of people have said to me sense, what about 9/11, stephen? well, yeah, that is the most horrible day in america's history, but i want to point out no americans were cheering tore the terrorists back then, no one was making excuses for the terrorists, no one was pretending they weren't territories. and now that we've had time to learn more and see more of what happened on that terrible day last week, all i can think is, oh, stephen from last week, you sweet, naive child, how could you have been so calm? because this attack was far worse than it first looked. the terrorists who stormed the capitol weren't just a bunch ofia hoose fed a steady diet of lies, fak

> stephen: how about a little mardi gras music to bring us into the next act. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: jon batisteing actor, comedian, and nine-time host of the academy awards. he now stars in the film "standing up, falling down." please welcome back to a late show, billy crystal! hello, billy! good to see you. >> good to see you, stephen. it's been so long. >> stephen: it really has, the last time we talked, i think there was an audience. >> oh, man, i miss that so much. you have the greatest audiences in my favorite theater. there two great studios, you, of course, and 8-"h." i have warm feelings for the ed sullivan theater because that's where i made my network television debut on the "howard cosell" variety show. >> stephen: i remember that, sure! >>> i'm sorry you do. >> stephen: sure. >> i love your theater, because here's a picture, stephen, of the marquee fro >> stephen: wow! howard cosell. roy clark, chita rivera, senator kennedy, and bill crystal? who is "bill crystal"? >> they ran out of "y"s, so i was bill for a little while. and howard cosell was the host. >> stephen: what a lineup! m

jon batiste.me to you, did i see this correctly, do you have a basketball right there between your feet? >> jon: yeah, yeah. >> stephen: just out of shot. >> jon: yup, yup. >> stephen: you just-- you just keeping sharp? what's the-- the ball is there with the piano? that seems dangerous. >> jon: yeah, you know, i still have hoop dreams. i think i can make it. i think i got it. i'm going to go and i'm going to have a second part to my career. i'm going to be in the n.b.a. >> stephen: you-- >> jon: i'm going for it. >> stephen: you will be to basketball what michael jordan was to baseball. i believe in you. ( laughter ) >> jon: well, you know, he worked really hard. >> stephen: he did. >> jon: he worked really hard. >> stephen: he did, he did. jon, what's on-- what's on-- what's on the mind of your fingers right now. >> jon: let's see. ♪ ♪ ♪ >> stephen: thank you, jon. ( laughs ). >> jon: have a good one. >> stephen: you, too. folks, you know, every night i come out here, toast some topical, organic

. >>> and jon batiste, band leader for "the late show with stephen colbert" tells us about his new musicning news" for this thursday. thanks for watching. i'm anne-marie green. have a great day. ♪

questionnaire to tom hanks meryl streep and george clooney and musical guests the mountain goats featuring jon batistey homin'. and now, live on tape from the ed sullivan theater office building in new york city, it's stephen colbert! >> stephen: hey, everybody. welcome to "a late show." i'm just cleaning my glasses. give me a second here. i'm sorry to keep you guys waiting, it's just that this is the last show of the week, rare friday show, rare friday show at this point. we had a live show a couple of nights ago. i'm still riding out that high. and i don't know if my glasses are dirty or just my cornas refuse to focus anymore. i'm having a little trouble-- there you go. there are the words right there. i can't wait to find out what i will say tonight. the squirrel cage needs hosing out up there. happy friday? it's the end of the first week of a brand-new year, which means it's time for my new segment: "2021, the week that felt like a year: a look back." where to begin? monday. what happened on monday? i can't remember. but, on tuesday, there was the big runoff election down in georgia. i know that b

featuring jon batiste and stay homin'.pe from the ed sullivan theater office building in new york city, it's stephen colbert! >> stephen: welcome! welcome, one and all, to "a late show." i'm your host, stephen colbert, one more time. well, folks, it's our last show of 2020, and hopefully it's our last 2020, if you know what i mean-- and i'm not sure i do. tonight, we're going to revisit the year that was-- and, boy, was it-- in a special report we're calling: >> "2020: the year that took years. what a cluster-fond look back." >> stephen: 2020 brought us so much: the clumsiest coup in history, the global pandemic, commercials from domino's saying their pizzas would now go right from the oven into the box without anyone touching it, which really raised a lot of questions about how that all worked before. 2020 was so bad, the top artist on spotify was a man screaming into a pillow. here's a story you might have forgotten: the president was impeached. i'll recap it in my back-for-a- limited-time-only segment, "don and the gian

featuring jon batiste and stay homin'. and now, live from the ed sullivan theater office building in new york city, it's stephen colbert! >> stephen: hey, everybody. welcome to an unexpectedly live "late show"." i'm your host, stephen colbert. you know how you know it's live? if it wasn't live, they would have edited out all this dead space i'll gis giving you right. i really want to do the show we're about to do and i also don't want to do the show we're about to do because lord have mercy. there are some dark subjects that we talk lbout on the show occasionally, but i've really been as upset as i am tonight. and i'm sure you are, too. hey, republicans who supported this president, especially the ones in the joint session of congress today, have you had enough? after five years of coddling this president's fascist rhetoric, guess whose followers want to burn down the reichstag. because today, the u.s. capitol was overrun for the first time since 1814, and a woman died. who could have seen this coming? everyone? even dummi