Thursday afternoon, when the news of Prince’s death broke, tributes and remembrances flooded into our culture and, as the day went on, led the evening news. By the time the late night shows came on, the news was still just as jarring and sad and it was now time for the late night hosts to take their turn. Stephen Colbert has always been a go-to when it comes to moving in memoriams and, on Thursday night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, he didn’t disappoint.
Colbert, after rehashing the few details known about the music icon’s death at the time of the show’s taping, goes on to talk about his own relationship with Prince and his music, as most people did yesterday. Colbert talked about being a fan of Prince since high school, even name dropping Skipper Graham, a member of the choir Colbert was in, who brought “the very first Prince album into our choir room.” A brief moment of levity came when Colbert added that he and his friends wore headphones while listening to the album, so that none of the adults present could hear the album’s lyrics, an act that most of us can relate to, as we all did that at one point growing up. Maybe not with Prince, but still.
Colbert then passed it over to his band leader Jon Batiste, saying that he wasn’t just a fan of Prince; Batiste and his crew had actually worked with Prince. Batiste went on to tell an amusing Prince story about a time he was hanging out with the late singer.
“He had a huge aura; his energy and presence in a room, it just kind of filled everybody’s hearts. He had a certain kind of way of being aware of what was going on. I remember one time we were back stage and I was talking to him and without even looking in the direction, just pointing his finger, he says, ‘courtesy.’ And then you look over there, there’s five people over there, you don’t know what he’s talking about. Then you turn and they had a cat with his phone, filming our conversation. And he figured out, throughout all that was going on backstage, musicians playing, everything happening, you know, ‘courtesy, put the phone away.’ Then he said ‘down,’ cat put it down. ‘In your pocket.’ Put it in his pocket. ‘Thank you very much. Okay, Jon. So how are you?'”
Colbert then finished the tribute by pointing out that “not many people are as influential enough to be known as one name, let alone by one color.’ Out of respect, the set’s lighting was changed to purple.
