Elvis Costello wanted to lead Stephen Colbert’s Late Show band. He even told Colbert he was serious about it. The deal fell apart because the Impostors couldn’t relocate — and Costello now says he would have been fired in about three weeks anyway.
The story comes from a new episode of Rolling Stone Music Now, where Costello discusses his new box set, My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition). He says Colbert asked his advice about the bandleader role, and Costello put himself forward. “It was an impulsive thing to put myself forward,” he says. “Steve asked my advice about that role. … I said, ‘What about me?’ And I think he thought I was joking, and I said, ‘No, I’m not joking.'”
For a while, Costello says, there were serious discussions about the possibility. But the logistics killed it fast. “I started to think about how much it asked of my bandmates, that they would all have to relocate,” he says. “I was the only one who lived in New York, so it would have never worked.” Keyboardist Steve Nieve lives in France. “I don’t see how that would’ve worked, really, with Steve living in Paris,” he continues. “We would’ve been asking an awful lot, and the money involved and everything would’ve been unbelievable … to relocate three band members to New York.”
The Band Leader Who Almost Was
Costello points to the Tonight Show house band as precedent. “I’d watched what happened with the Roots,” he says. “I saw what the Roots had achieved across town, you know, that they had saved their own lives, and those of their family around them, by coming off the road. I thought maybe that would be good for us. … It hadn’t inhibited them [from] making more records and working on things, and it put them at a center.”
He also had family history on his side. “Branford Marsalis was the band leader of The Tonight Show,” Costello says. “Lots of really great people have done that gig. … And don’t forget, my dad was a radio dance band singer who appeared a lot on the BBC. So I had continuity with the idea.”
But the practical problems were too big. “It was like a dream I had for a minute,” Costello says. “I would’ve got fired in about three weeks. Not by [Colbert], but probably by the network. … I would’ve said or done the wrong thing for sure.”
Colbert’s Finale Choice
Costello did make it onto the final episode of the show, which went off the air earlier this year. On the May 21 finale, Colbert sang the Costello deep cut “Jump Up” with Costello, Jon Batiste, and Louis Cato, Batiste’s successor as bandleader.
“It was his idea to do that song as a quartet, which was an extraordinary thing to me,” Costello says. “It was a compliment, but it was also a beautiful arrangement that Louis Cato conceived with Jon Batiste and everything, and the three band leaders, as we joked about, ’cause I had briefly been in the frame. Stephen sang great. And it was funny to hear this song, which I think I’ve performed maybe four times in public since ’77, certainly.”
Costello says the song choice nearly backfired. He had concerns about ending the show on a downbeat note. “We had a conference call about it,” he adds, “and I said, ‘Look, this seems like a very downbeat sort of number to end the show on.’ And I said, ‘You know, if on the day of the final broadcast you get a call from Taylor Swift and Beyoncé that they’re prepared to come on and play table tennis against one another live on air, you can cut the number and I won’t be offended.'”
He found out the show had a bigger surprise in mind. “But of course, what I didn’t know is they had a whole other card to play, which was Paul McCartney. And then I got to be part of that band as well, which was terrific fun.”
He described the moment with McCartney in vivid terms. “It was kind of weird. You think about Paul’s history with that theater. … I don’t think he appeared in it as many times as me, but it was a lot more significant when he did. So it was kinda something to stand side-stage before we were going on, and there’s Paul McCartney with his Hofner bass, and we’re going on to sing a Beatles song. It was thrilling.”
The End of Television
The finale marked the end of Costello’s TV career. He says the industry has changed too much for him to keep doing it. “It’s very, very different now. It’s being squeezed by all sorts of forces, commercial forces, corporate forces, political forces. It’s not something I could be involved in. I retired that night. That’s a great thing.”
“I thought, ‘Well, I can’t possibly beat that. It just ain’t for me,'” he says. “It’s time for other people to do it, you know. I feel that pretty much about everything in this business.”
He framed it as a clean break. “Take a good look at this picture here, ’cause you won’t ever see me on television again, that’s for sure. I’m done.”
What Costello Says About Batiste
Costello was complimentary about the man who eventually got the job. “It would have never worked for a whole number of reasons, but it was nice to put my name in it, and I don’t think it exactly did any harm to the conversation and the search for somebody who was truly suited to it, and, of course, took it on to such a wonderful career outside of television.”
The episode is available on Apple Podcasts and Spotify, along with the full Rolling Stone Music Now archive. The show is hosted by Brian Hiatt.
Key Facts Box
– Episode: New episode of Rolling Stone Music Now
– Box Set: My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition)
– Finale Date: May 21
– Final Broadcast Song: “Jump Up”
– Guest Artists: Taylor Swift, Beyoncé, Paul McCartney
– Bandleader: Jon Batiste (first), Louis Cato (successor)
Schedule Table
| Event | Date |
|——-|——|
| Colbert asks for advice | Not specified |
| Serious discussions begin | Not specified |
| Costello says he’d be fired in three weeks | Confirmed in interview |
| Finale broadcast | May 21 |
| Final song: “Jump Up” | May 21 |
| Paul McCartney joins band | May 21 |
The saga is a reminder that even the most confident artists have limits. Costello was willing to step into the spotlight, but the practical demands of the job were too much for his band. And he knows it.
Source material: “Elvis Costello Was in Talks to Become Stephen Colbert’s ‘Late Show’ Bandleader,” Rolling Stone.
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