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Stephen Colbert Explains On Paul Mecurio Podcast How He Was "Daft Punk'd" [Soundcloud]

Published August 13, 2013

Yesterday on The Paul Mecurio Show podcast, Comedy Central's Stephen Colbert joined his old-time coworker from The Daily Show for an almost hour-long interview. A big portion of the conversation had Colbert explaining in much detail what had led up to Daft Punk's highly disappointing no-show on The Colbert Report, and how exactly his beloved dance party video came about in lieu of their appearance.

Around six weeks before the appearance, Colbert was asked by his booking producers if he would be interested in having Daft Punk as guests on the show, to which he said "yes," knowing that the duo hardly ever do TV appearances, and also made "Get Lucky," the song of the summer.

Five weeks before Daft Punk's scheduled appearance, Colbert was told that the duo did not want to be interviewed, seeing as they don't talk in public. Colbert responded "that's get-aroundable," and while brainstorming another way of interacting with the group, he had planned to "do a 6-minute monologue in the form of... Pitchfork Media or old Rolling Stone" on the group's latest album, Random Access Memories, "and just have them nodding the entire time."

Having worked around that approach, another passed and Colbert was told that Daft Punk would also not perfrom "Get Lucky" on the air. Colbert then jokingly stated "I'm beginning to see why they don't do TV."

Colbert expressed minor frustration after this second setback, saying "We're dropping some coin on these guys. We're flying these cats in from Paris and not in coach - to do this show." However, when asked if he wanted to cancel their appearance, he declined, telling Mercurio that he likes a challenge, and that "change is as good as a holiday."

Within the confines of Daft Punk not doing their music, and also not talking, Colbert hatched up a great idea: a video where he would try to convince the band to do their song, thus, leading to the creation of the infamous dance party video.

Jeff Bridges was to be a guest on The Colbert Report around this time, so he asked Bridges if he would be interested in dancing to "Get Lucky" in the fashion that Bridges' character, "The Dude," did on The Big Lebowski steps. As a friend of Colbert's, and being a fan of Daft Punk, (as they did the soundtrack for the latest Tron film), he agreed. However, he had to be going soon, which led Bridges to do the dance in the stairwell of The Colbert Report studio.

stephen-colbert-report-jeff-bridges-get-lucky-daft-punk

Following the same pattern, Colbert tried to get everyone he could to dance in the video. At the same time, he found out Robin Thicke was available, but was then informed that he couldn't due to the VMA's. However, a few behind-the-scenes strings were pulled, and Thicke was able to do it, which Colbert was "very gratful for." Then it became apparent that Daft Punk were to have the same fate, so Colbert, again, tried to use everything in his power to keep Daft Punk on the show.

With no word from what happened regarding Daft Punk and the VMA's, a day before their scheduled appearance, Colbert is informed that Daft Punk came, but then, the following morning, was told that they wouldn't come. "I don't really know what the deal is," Colbert states. "It's always on some level a mystery to me... MTV says they had an exclusive arrangement, Daft Punk's people say they never had an exclusive arrangement."

Ultimately, I would say, I understand that the VMAs have got their own rules, and Daft Punk, that's a big important thing to have done. I'm the guy who's completely screwed here. I don't have a show tonight.

In contrast to Colbert's claims, The Hollywood Reporter now states that it was Daft Punk's decision not to be on The Colbert Report, and not a result of the electronic duo's coinciding appearance on the VMA's. Jesse Ignjatovic, the VMA's executive producer, told THR that MTV does not "put restrictions on anyone," and that "it was up to that artist and their management what they wanted to do."

Listen to the full podcast above; the topic of Daft Punk comes up at 24:15 on the counter. And if you still haven't seen it, watch the full episode of The Colbert Report that includes the "Get Lucky" dance video on Zumic by clicking here!

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