Intro Rewind: Patti Smith (Extended)

Summary

Episode Overview

Podcast: The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert
Episode: Intro Rewind: Patti Smith (Extended)
Date: January 3, 2026
Main Theme:
This episode features an extended conversation with legendary musician and writer Patti Smith. The discussion centers around her unique career bridging literature and rock music, her experiences and creative processes, the release of her latest memoir "Bread of Angels," and reflections on art, resilience, and living authentically as an artist. The episode also offers listeners a behind-the-scenes look at The Late Show’s creative process and a playful, music-themed "Rock and Roll Thanksgiving."

---

Key Discussion Points & Insights

The Late Show’s Creative Process: “Let’s Earn It” (01:09–03:48)

• Late Show Vocab Game: Producer Becca introduces the term "Let's earn it," a phrase Stephen uses in the writers' room to remind the staff to finish pressing work before indulging in fun distractions, usually music.
  • Stephen: “Let’s earn it means someone has said something in the room ... that makes me think of like, oh, wow, we should really listen to Aki123 by the English Beat. And I’ll go, let’s earn it. Meaning we have to finish the work in front of us.” (01:51)
  • Rewriting before showtime is described as a “pressure cooker,” with the team often having to rewrite a minute of material every two minutes, sometimes on the fly if breaking news occurs.
  • The phrase captures the balance between discipline and the creative urge for distraction within the show’s work culture.

Rock and Roll Thanksgiving & Patti Smith Introduction (03:48–05:55)

• This week’s “theme” is revealed as Rock and Roll Thanksgiving, celebrating recent music guests, with Patti Smith highlighted as the first feature.
• Stephen and Becca express admiration for Patti Smith’s music, memoirs, and her candid personality.
  • Becca: “She’s the coolest ever.” (04:59)
  • Stephen notes Smith’s dual achievement: National Book Award winner and Rock and Roll Hall of Famer.
• Patti Smith’s recent book, Bread of Angels, is discussed as a notable upcoming work.

Extended Interview with Patti Smith (05:55–15:57)

On Dual Honors: Rock and Roll Hall of Fame vs. National Book Award (06:21–07:37)

• Patti Smith on Artistic Recognition:
  • “The Rock and Roll Hall of Fame is really… a collaborative art … you’re accepting on the part of your crew, your band, the people. … But the National Book Award was for work that I did in solitude, my own work. So that's special for me, just as an individual or as a writer.” (06:51)

Advice for Young People & Self-Care (07:37–09:27)

• Patti is self-deprecating about giving advice but shares pragmatic and thoughtful guidance:
  • “Take good care of yourself. Take good care of your teeth. … If you're like, ready to paint your masterpiece and … you need root canal, you can’t work.” (08:00)
  • She emphasizes the importance of inner strength and self-worth in the age of social media:
  • “We really have to look to ourselves and … develop our own armor and not be swayed and demoralized by other people’s opinions.” (09:23)

The Story Behind Bread of Angels (09:27–11:44)

• Origin in a Dream: Patti dreamt the book arrived already written, which inspired her to actually create it:
  • “In my dream, I was reading it and it was actually beautiful. … I thought it was a sign that I should write it.” (09:37)
• Themes: The new memoir focuses on gratitude and tributes to lost loved ones, including her late husband, brother, parents, and even her dog.
  • Writing nonfiction is “really difficult … because I live in quite a fantasy world. So I had to really discipline myself.” (10:12)
• On the Book’s Cover: The photo, taken by Robert Mapplethorpe in 1979, was intended to mark a major turning point in her life and had sentimental value. (10:56–11:44)
• Meaning of the Title:
  • “A Bread of angel is really when someone… comes up and helps you up. … Not really profound, not necessarily spiritual or religious. It's just an act of… kindness.” (11:48)

The Impact of Childhood Illness on Artistry (12:22–13:49)

• Smith details her struggles with frequent illness as a child (scarlet fever, tuberculosis), which she attributes to nurturing her creativity:
  • “To me, convalescence… just meant time to read books, make up stories in my head.” (13:01)
  • She notes that many creative icons (Frank L. Baum, Robert Louis Stevenson, Proust, William Burroughs) were also sickly as children.

Memories and Hallucinations from Illness (13:49–14:26)

• Patti describes vivid childhood hallucinations, partly due to high fevers and overtreatment with penicillin typical of her era.

The Anniversary of Horses & Its Aftermath (14:32–15:57)

• Smith reflects on the 50th anniversary of her iconic album Horses, created as an evolution from poetry through performance to rock and roll.
  • “I was working in a bookstore even when we were recording Horses. … And I wanted to see the world so much, but had no real… hope that I would economically be able to travel. … And then I finish the record and … they say, oh, no, you have to tour.” (14:45)
  • The album enabled her to “communicate with other people” across the world and changed her life.

---

Notable Quotes & Memorable Moments

• On Recognition:

  • “When you accept to be in the Rock and Roll Hall of Fame, you’re accepting on the part of your crew, your band, the people. … But the National Book Award was for work that I did in solitude, my own work.” — Patti Smith (06:51)

• On Advice:

  • “Take good care of your teeth. … If you’re like, ready to paint your masterpiece and … you need root canal, you can’t work.” — Patti Smith (08:00)

• On Inner Worth:

  • “We really have to look to ourselves and … develop our own armor and not be swayed and demoralized by other people’s opinions.” — Patti Smith (09:23)

• On Writing Bread of Angels:

  • “In my dream, I was reading it … I thought it was a sign that I should write it.” — Patti Smith (09:37)

• On Receiving Unexpected Kindness:

  • “It might be that you’re on the street and you fall and somebody comes up and helps you up. That’s like a moment of the bread of angels.” — Patti Smith (11:48)

• On Creative Fertility from Illness:

  • “You’re sickly, you have a lot of fevers, you’re alone a lot. You’re living in your head. And if you’re at all creative, it becomes a very fertile time.” — Patti Smith (13:40)

• Memorable spontaneous moment: Patti interrupts Colbert in the middle of a question simply to greet him.

  • Patti: “Hi.” (12:26)
  • Colbert: “Hi. … Stop me in the middle of anything just to say hi. That’s better than anything I’m going to ask you.” (12:38)

---

Timestamps for Important Segments

• 01:09–03:48: "Let's earn it" and The Late Show’s creative process
• 03:57–05:55: Rock and Roll Thanksgiving introduction; setting the stage for Patti Smith’s interview
• 06:21–07:37: Patti Smith on the significance of her National Book Award and Rock Hall induction
• 07:37–09:27: Advice for young people; self-care and self-worth
• 09:27–11:44: The origins and meaning of Bread of Angels; Robert Mapplethorpe’s cover photo
• 12:22–13:49: How childhood illness fed her creativity
• 14:32–15:57: The impact of Horses and how it changed her life

---

Tone & Style

The conversation is warm, witty, and candid, with Stephen Colbert’s hallmark humor and Patti Smith’s poetic authenticity. Both show admiration for each other, and there’s an easy rapport filled with moments of laughter, nostalgia, and genuine insight into the creative life. Listeners get both an entertaining and intimate portrait of a trailblazing artist.

---

Summary

For fans of music, literature, or just great conversation, this episode offers a revealing deep dive into the creative mind and gentle humor of Patti Smith, guided by Stephen Colbert’s thoughtful, irreverent questions. From behind-the-scenes banter to serious talk about art, vulnerability, and resilience, the episode celebrates the power of kindness, creativity, and living your truth. If you’re looking for inspiration, practical advice, or just a reminder to “take care of your teeth,” don’t miss this one.

Transcript

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, the holidays have come and gone once again.

[Patti Smith]

But if you've forgotten to get that.

[Stephen Colbert]

Special someone in your life a gift, well, Mint Mobile is extending their holiday offer of half off unlimited wireless. So here's the idea. You get it now, you call it.

[Patti Smith]

An early present for next year.

[Stephen Colbert]

What do you have to lose? Give it a [e-mail] switch.

[Patti Smith]

Limited time, 50% off regular price for new customers. Upfront payment required. $45 for three months, $90 for six month or $180 for a 12 month plan. Taxes and fees. Extra speeds may slow after 50 gigabytes per month when network is busy. See terms. DSW's semi annual sale is fast. Take 50% off all clearance shoes in stores for a limited time. Literally every single clearance item at your designer shoe warehouse store is on sale right now. Sneakers, boots, dress shoes, if they're on.

[Stephen Colbert]

The clearance racks, they're 50% off.

[Patti Smith]

So what are you waiting for? Don't sleep on these savings. Get to DSW asap.

[Becca (Producer)]

It's all or nothing, people.

[Patti Smith]

Shop the DSW semiannual sale today.

[Becca (Producer)]

Hey, everybody. You're listening to the Late Show POD.

[Stephen Colbert]

Show with Stephen Colbert.

[Becca (Producer)]

He's here in the flesh.

[Stephen Colbert]

One of my favorite things I get to do once every five weeks. Yeah, five or six weeks, something like that. We're here in the booth and I'm here with Becca.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah, I'm the producer here on the POD Show. Thanks so much for listening.

[Stephen Colbert]

A pleasure. Oh, I mean the people listening, not me.

[Becca (Producer)]

Well, yeah, well, I thought you were.

[Stephen Colbert]

Thanking me for listening to you right now.

[Becca (Producer)]

You are.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is my I'm listening to you face.

[Becca (Producer)]

Okay. So one fun thing that we do on the Late Show Pod show, if you've listened before, is we have a little game called Late Show Vocab.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, I love this.

[Becca (Producer)]

Where we talk about insider shorthand that only we know that's integral to our process.

[Stephen Colbert]

Got it.

[Becca (Producer)]

So I have one for you to start off this week and it's the quote, let's earn it. Can you explain why when you would.

[Stephen Colbert]

Use this term, let's earn it means someone has said something in the room that generally I then associate with some of that. I think other people use let's earn it now just to mock me. But it means that somebody said something and made me think of like, oh, wow, we should really listen to Aki123 by the English Beat. And I'll go, let's earn it. Meaning we have to finish the work in front of us. Because as much as I'd much rather at this moment just listen to some music. And it's often music.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Especially in the rewrite room. Before we do the show, which is a real pressure cooker. We have rehearsal, and then we have to basically have the show rewritten in an hour after that, which is a high pressure because sometimes you might be rewriting 22 minutes of material, maybe even more because you have to cut down a fat monologue. And so it's basically, you have to rewrite a minute every 30 seconds. No, you have to rewrite a minute every two minutes. That's what it is.

[Becca (Producer)]

And breaking news could happen at any point.

[Stephen Colbert]

At any point. And I am a thousand times the worst at delaying us at every moment. Because if I. If I'm in a meeting and everything is just going smoothly, it probably means I'm bored. But if I'm constantly interrupting people with other things that I'm thinking of, that means that whatever we're talking about actually sparked my interest and it made my brain fire in my own attention deficit disorder way. Is that if I'm really paying attention, I'll stop focusing.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

You know what I mean?

[Becca (Producer)]

It's part of the creative process, you know, sparks of creativity.

[Stephen Colbert]

So let's earn it means. Okay, I know I can't start this now, but let's get this done so we can actually listen to the song.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Or watch the sketch.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Or something like that.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah, it's like, watch it a little bit. And then you say one sentence and then say, let's earn it. And then I go, okay, how do I find this in the next 45 minutes?

[Stephen Colbert]

And then I'll set up and then I'll say, oh, by the way, we were gonna earn something. What was it? Because I'll always forget what it was because it was a fleeting enthusiasm.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. So it's a really.

[Stephen Colbert]

Sometimes no one remembers.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah, I try. I try to remember, but it's.

[Patti Smith]

It's.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah. So that. That is so integral to our process, and it is often music based. And so that's launching into this week's theme. We have a theme week?

[Patti Smith]

Wow.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is this our first theme week?

[Becca (Producer)]

It is. And guess what it is. It's Rock and Roll Thanksgiving. Cause we've had a lot of great rock and roll themed guests on the show lately. Yeah.

[Patti Smith]

Yeah.

[Becca (Producer)]

And I would love to just blast on through them this week.

[Stephen Colbert]

Let's do it.

[Becca (Producer)]

Rock and Roll Thanksgiving. So this is a. Guess the guest for this first one.

[Patti Smith]

You're on my own.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. Two games on tonight's episode.

[Patti Smith]

Yes.

[Becca (Producer)]

Two games, double the money. This guest.

[Stephen Colbert]

Do you want to keep all your money from knowing and explaining what let's earn it means, or do you want to go for the golden round? I'll go for the golden round, thanks.

[Becca (Producer)]

Okay, great. This guest interrupted you in the middle of their interview and said hi, Patti Smith.

[Patti Smith]

Yes.

[Stephen Colbert]

One of my favorite interactions with any guest ever. You'll hear it in the interview coming up, I assume. Yeah, but she just put her hand on my arm and said hi in the middle of me. Moving on to the next question. And I think she did the right thing. I think it was exactly the right thing for her to do. And I hope I responded in a. In a way that conveyed that because I really was so happy that she just interrupted me.

[Becca (Producer)]

She's the coolest ever.

[Stephen Colbert]

Loved her song, too.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah. Incredible performance. You gotta check out on YouTube.

[Stephen Colbert]

In such great voice.

[Becca (Producer)]

Yeah. She's so cool.

[Stephen Colbert]

Unbelievable.

[Becca (Producer)]

Born in Chicago. Born in Chicago.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, all the best people are.

[Becca (Producer)]

I know. I've seen her and raised in New Jersey. You guys have all in common. Yeah, There you go. Yeah. She's got a new book called Bread of Angels and, you know, I. I'm excited to read it. Dress kids. One of the best. One of the best memoirs of all time. So beautiful. So cool. This is the amazing Patti Smith. And this is the extended interview with Patti. And make sure you go onto YouTube and watch her amazing performance on the late show as well. Okay, great.

[Stephen Colbert]

Let's earn. Ladies and gentlemen, my next guest tonight is a celebrated writer and Rock and roll hall of Famer who is called the godmother of punk. Please welcome to the Late Show, Patti Smith.

[Patti Smith]

Hi.

[Stephen Colbert]

Good to see you again.

[Patti Smith]

Nice to see you too.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Patti Smith]

People love you.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, that's very nice. People love you too, obviously. Last time we spoke. Last time we spoke was at the old show and I was in character and I hope I was nice.

[Patti Smith]

I don't even remember. I don't remember any.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's fair.

[Patti Smith]

No, I mean, I don't remember anything specifically, but you're always nice.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, that's nice of you to say. Well, you're the only person. We looked this up. You're the only person to win a national book Award for 2010's Just Kids and also to be inducted in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame. Okay, so those are two great honors. Two very different honors. There's one. How do they. How do they mean the same and how do they mean something different to you?

[Patti Smith]

Well, I mean. Well, they are different because the Rock and Roll hall of Fame is really. Because it's rock and roll. It's a collaborative art or a collaborative activity, whatever you want to call it. But, you know, because when you accept to be in the Rock and Roll hall of Fame, you're accepting on the part of your crew, your band, the people. So it's far reaching. But the National Book Award was for work that I did in solitude, my own work. So that's special for me, you know, just as an individual or as a writer. But, you know, they're both wonderful and obviously totally unexpected.

[Stephen Colbert]

Well, not by people who read Just Kids, because Just Kids has become an iconic and sort of definitive account of what it means to be a young person, what it's like to be a young person in New York City trying to make your way, especially as an artist. And a lot of people say it's tough to be young right now. Do you have any advice for any young people out there who are entering the adult world?

[Patti Smith]

Yeah, don't take advice from me. That's what. Well, I mean, well, just. Well, let's say as a mother, I would tell young people, take good care of yourself. Take good care of your teeth. Take a drink, plenty of water. And people laugh when I say, take good care of your teeth. But if you're like, ready to paint your masterpiece and you get like, you need root canal, you can't work.

[Stephen Colbert]

So floss. Seriously saying floss, among other things, save.

[Patti Smith]

Your money, get your teeth clean. But really. But just take care of yourself in general. If you want to have a good time, that's great. But it's really important to take care of yourself, whether you're getting ready for the revolution or just to do your work, you know. But also, I think in these times, really important that young people especially look to themselves as their own best criticism, as their own best measure of their worth. And not to, you know, what other people think or social media, anyone, because we really have to look to ourselves and have to be strong and, you know, develop our own armor and not be swayed and demoralized by other people's opinions.

[Stephen Colbert]

Your new book, your new book is. Is Bread of Angels, which is also a memoir like Just Kids. What inspired you to write a second book?

[Patti Smith]

Actually, truthfully, I had a dream that the book came in the mail and it was already written. So in my dream, I was reading it and it was actually beautiful. It was white with a white ribbon. But in the book, it really seemed to express gratitude to the people that I love and of loss. My parents, my late husband, my late brother, even my beloved dog. And I thought I should write that book. When I woke up, I woke up like this. I was still holding it, and I thought it was a sign that I should write it. It took a long time because, you know, writing nonfiction is really difficult for me because I live in quite a fantasy world. So I had to really discipline myself, but did the best I could.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you find as you were writing it, that you were fabulizing? That you were going like, oh, I'm not sure whether that happened?

[Patti Smith]

Oh, no. I only write about things that I actually completely remember, and I have a pretty good memory. It's the same way I wrote Just Kids. If I couldn't picture it almost like a scene in a movie, I probably didn't write about it. I think it's important to really, you know, feel what you're writing.

[Stephen Colbert]

Tell me about the photo on the.

[Patti Smith]

COVID The photograph was taken by Robert Mapplethorpe and 1979, and we were doing the COVID of my album Wave. And when we were done, I wanted Robert to take another picture that was more like for the song Dancin Barefoot. I knew that I was leaving public life, only I knew that. But I knew that I was about to make a lot of difficult decisions in my life, and I wanted a photograph to somehow speak of that. And we never really used it for anything except the inside of the record. And I thought it would be really nice for this book.

[Stephen Colbert]

It's a lovely photograph. I'm wondering what Bread of Angels means to.

[Patti Smith]

Well, I had a lot of different titles for the book, but I settled on that one. And it's described in the book as being an unpremeditated gesture of kindness. So a Bread of angel is really when someone, you know, it might be that you've. You know, you're on the street and you fall and somebody comes up and helps you up. That's like a moment of the bread of angels. Not really profound, not necessarily spiritual or religious. It's just an act of. A gesture of kindness.

[Stephen Colbert]

You write a lot about your childhood when you actually. You were often ill as a child.

[Patti Smith]

Hi.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hi. Hi.

[Patti Smith]

What's up? I don't know. I just wanted to say hi.

[Stephen Colbert]

Hi. Anytime, anytime.

[Patti Smith]

Sorry.

[Stephen Colbert]

Stop me in the middle of anything just to say hi. That's better than anything I'm going to ask you. This is actually.

[Patti Smith]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is that you? Martin Scorsese says that having asthma as a kid was how he discovered cinema in his lives, wanted to become a filmmaker. I Was actually in the hospital a lot when I was a kid. And I'm curious. I don't blame you. But do you think your frequent illness played a role in you becoming an artist?

[Patti Smith]

I think it was helpful. I mean, I was a reader from very early age in life. I loved books. So to me, convalescence, which I suffered a lot of, just meant time to read books, make up stories in my head. And also I learned that a lot of my favorite authors, you know, like Frank L. Baum and Robert Louis Stevenson, there's several of them who were very sickly, like Proust, very sickly as children. And William Burroughs actually told me that he was quite sickly. And we talked about that a lot. Because you're sickly, you have a lot of fevers, you're alone a lot. You're living in your head. And if you're at all creative, it becomes a very fertile time.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you have fevers?

[Patti Smith]

A lot of fevers. As a kid? When I was younger. I don't suffer them anymore.

[Stephen Colbert]

You have any hallucinations or anything?

[Patti Smith]

Oh, yeah. Well, I had really bad scarlet fever, tuberculosis, and these, the fevers. And also they gave you, in the 50s, so much penicillin, so maybe four times as much as you needed because they were still experimenting with it. Sure. And that alone would give you hallucinations. But I always, I don't know, I was such a fanciful kid. I just found them interesting, and I can remember them to this day.

[Stephen Colbert]

This is next week, marks the 50th anniversary of your first album, Horses.

[Patti Smith]

You.

[Stephen Colbert]

Obviously. What did Horses change for you?

[Patti Smith]

Well, I mean, first of all, this picture also taken by Robert Mapplethorpe. But I mean, Horses is really. It stemmed from poetry. It was poetry that evolved in performance and then finally rock and roll. But what it allowed me not only to speak to so many people and, you know, to share my thoughts or ideas with my generation and other generations. It allowed me to travel because I, you know, I came from a lower middle class family. I was working in a bookstore even when we were recording Horses. And I wanted to see the world so much, but had no real, you know, hope that I would economically be able to travel. And then I finish the record and I think, okay, back to the bookstore. And they say, oh, no, you have to tour. Tour where? Finland. And, you know, we went to Paris and London and all over. And it was, you know, magical. I get to tour and do the work that I wanted and communicate with other people. So it was great.

[Stephen Colbert]

Patti, thank you so much for being here. It was lovely to see you again. Hi. Ride. The book is Bread of Angels. And stick around for a performance by Patti Smith. Thank you for listening to the Late Show Pod show with Stephen Colbert. Just one more thing. If you want to see more of me, come to The Late Show YouTube channel for more clips and exclusives. Now streaming, it's the new limited series. Little disasters. Happy families. Perfect marriage.

[Patti Smith]

What happened? Social services have been called in.

[Becca (Producer)]

I've known you for 10 years.

[Patti Smith]

How could you make that call? These rich families, Concealing things Seems to come naturally.

[Stephen Colbert]

Starring Diane Kruger. You can't take our children and Joe Joyner.

[Patti Smith]

Parents can do some terrible things in moments of frustration.

[Stephen Colbert]

Little Disasters. All episodes now streaming on Paramount plus.

[Patti Smith]

Paramount plus is the new home of ufc. It isn't just combat, it's cinema.

[Stephen Colbert]

Unbelievable.

[Patti Smith]

Every strike is a frame.

[Stephen Colbert]

What a shot.

[Patti Smith]

Every rifle rivalry a story.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, my goodness.

[Patti Smith]

This canvas is more than a stage. Are you not entertained? It's where legends are made. UFC on Paramount + every fight, one subscription. Streaming this January.