Paul Simon (Extended) | Bye Bye Bondi

Summary

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The Late Show Pod Show with Stephen Colbert

Episode: Paul Simon (Extended) | Bye Bye Bondi

Release Date: April 3, 2026
Main Guest: Paul Simon

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Episode Overview

This episode of The Late Show Pod Show blends late-night wit and cultural commentary with an intimate conversation between Stephen Colbert and legendary musician Paul Simon. The show covers the excitement of the Artemis II lunar mission, the political shakeup involving Pam Bondi, and an extended, deeply personal interview with Paul Simon discussing his musical journey, songwriting process, and thoughts on music’s purpose. The tone is equal parts sharp, light-hearted, and reflective, featuring Colbert's trademark humor and Simon's quiet wisdom.

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Key Segments and Insights

1. Artemis II Lunar Mission: “Suck it, sky.” (01:05–06:10)

• Colbert opens with excitement over America's new manned moon mission, Artemis II, capturing the room’s energy and making playful jabs at the history of space travel.

• Highlights the nostalgia and significance of witnessing the first crewed moon launch since Apollo.

• Humorous commentary on technological hiccups and toilet troubles aboard Artemis II, including a dig at Microsoft Outlook and a spoof ad for "Kowalski and Sun, SpaceX Space Plumbers":

  “No matter what job you have, no matter how far you journey from Mother Earth, Outlook sucks.” – Colbert (04:06)

• Light-hearted analysis of the challenges of space toilets versus old “waste collection bags.”

2. Political Satire: Bye Bye Bondi (07:11–10:30)

• Pam Bondi’s firing by President Trump is covered with Colbert’s irreverent flair, mocking the statement and alluding to broader scandals:

  “No, it’s great. It’s a much-needed job at a very important farm upstate. There will be lots of room for her to run around. Unfortunately, we can’t go visit her now.” – Colbert (08:25)

• Colbert parodies Trump’s Iran war address, layering in TV references:

  “Frazier went on for 11 years, one month, and 36 minutes. Suddenly, Susan was only four years, two days, and three box tops.” – Colbert (09:40)

3. Paul Simon Extended Interview (13:04–31:14)

Early Career and European Influence (13:17–16:57)

• Simon discusses moving to London in 1964, post-Kennedy assassination, and how exposure to British and Celtic music deeply influenced him:

  “I love that music...Over there, you hear the origins of it...I learned a lot about guitar. I had started on electric, then switched to acoustic, learned finger picking.” – Paul Simon (14:37)

• Busking Stories: Simon recounts his Paris street performances, offering a bit of showbiz wisdom:

  “Then the trick was, you start to play, and a group of people, they line, make a semicircle around you...then your partner, who’s a pretty girl, comes with a hat to the first group. They can’t get out.” (16:26)

Breakout Moment: “The Sound of Silence” (17:00–19:28)

• Finding out about his first hit: He and Art Garfunkel tracked their song on music charts via old industry publications—no internet then!

  “I’ll never forget this. I said, my life is irrevocably changed.” – Paul Simon (19:13)

Songcraft and Creativity (19:47–25:31)

• What makes a song interesting? Simon highlights harmonic, rhythmic, and lyrical elements, emphasizing that a good song must stand apart from its context.

• He shares that he can alter harmony and rhythm over the years but finds rewriting old lyrics doesn’t work.

• On taking song requests (“for cash”):

  “I said, okay, but it’ll cost you. I want $20...And he gave me the $20, and I picked it up and played a little bit.” – Paul Simon (22:50)

• Explains that many of his songs originally start with anger, but he purposely moves toward something more nuanced:

  “A lot of my songs used to begin...really angry in the beginning...but I don’t want to start off with an angry premise. I’m not going to do that.” – Paul Simon (24:03)

Lyrical Inspiration and American Songwriters (25:35–28:25)

• Colbert names his “Mount Rushmore of lyricists” (Simon, Sondheim, Dylan, Jackson Browne, John Prine); Simon responds thoughtfully, lauding:

  • Chuck Berry: “He made stories in words that flowed effortlessly...he taught my whole generation.”
  • Bob Dylan: “Of course, is a really interesting lyricist.”
  • Joni Mitchell: (with a sly apology for her being Canadian).
  • Stevie Wonder: “A really good storyteller.”

Audience Participation and the Power of Music (28:25–31:14)

• Colbert asks about the audience singing along:

  “Do you like that? ... Or you’re like, shh, I’m the performer, you paid tickets.” – Colbert

  Simon’s reply:

  “No, I like it...it’s a very pleasant feeling for an audience to sing together and have that feeling.” Except for Dublin or Belfast: “They take the song and sing it in their tempo at whatever they want...you're accompanying them.”

• On the purpose of music, inspired by Yo Yo Ma’s similar question:

  “It’s a mystery why [music] can produce these emotions in people… It’s like magic.” – Paul Simon (30:01–31:04)

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Notable Quotes

• Paul Simon on musical discovery:

  “I fell in love with that music...I learned a lot about guitar...learned how to finger pick. I was playing these folk clubbers, which were really just rooms above a pub.” (14:37)

• Paul Simon on the moment he knew he had a hit:

  “I said, my life is irrevocably changed.” (19:13)

• Simon on audience singalongs:

  “I like it...it's a very pleasant feeling for an audience to sing together and have that feeling.” (29:04)

• On songwriting as a metaphor:

  “Yeah, that’s right. No, I have a thing that goes beep, beep. Metaphor alert. Metaphor alert!” (25:41)

• Stephen Colbert on Outlook in space:

  “No matter what job you have, no matter how far you journey from Mother Earth, Outlook sucks.” (04:06)

• Paul Simon on the mystery of music’s power:

  “It’s a mystery why it can produce these emotions in people...It’s like magic.” (30:01, 31:04)

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Timestamps for Key Segments

• Artemis II Lunar Mission & Space Toilet Bit: 01:05–06:10
• Pam Bondi and Political Satire: 07:11–10:30
• Paul Simon Interview – Early Influence/Britain: 13:17–16:57
• “The Sound of Silence” Breakout: 17:00–19:28
• Songwriting, Requests, and Lyric Challenges: 19:47–25:31
• Lyrical Inspiration & Favorite Songwriters: 25:35–28:25
• Audience Participation & The “Magic” of Music: 28:25–31:14

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Memorable Moments

• Colbert’s parody of a space plumber ad and clever NASA digs (space toilets and party humor).
• Paul Simon’s candid recollections of busking strategies and the emotional moment of chart success.
• Colbert’s “Mount Rushmore” of lyricists leading to a thoughtful, funny digression.
• Simon comparing Irish audiences to an unstoppable choir: “They take the song and sing it in their tempo at whatever they want—you’re accompanying them.”
• Thoughtful exchange on the fundamental mystery and power of music.

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Conclusion

This episode delivers a lively blend of cultural commentary and heartfelt artistry. Colbert’s banter sets up an insightful, nostalgic, and often funny conversation with Paul Simon, who gives listeners a rare window into his musical growth, lyric challenges, and what makes a song enduring. Whether recalling the thrill of his first hit, sharing industry anecdotes, or discussing the near-spiritual magic of music, Simon comes across as humble and inspired—a treat for fans of music, writing, and late-night conversation.

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Transcript

[Stephen Colbert]

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[Paul Simon]

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[Stephen Colbert]

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[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome one and all to the Late Show. I'm your host, Stephen Colbert. Folks, you hear the excitement in this room. You know why it's electric? Because we're all still riding high from last night when on behalf of all mankind, America's Artemis II lunar mission successfully launched into outer space. Booyah. Suck it, sky. Sorry, wrong energy. I've got moon madness. I mean, the moment of the launch was just amazing. Let's take a look.

[Paul Simon]

10, 9, 8, 7. Rs25.

[Stephen Colbert]

Engines lit. 4, 3, 2, 1. Booster ignition and lift off. The crew of Artemis 2 now bound for the moon. The only way that countdown could have been better is if it was presented by a drunk. Anderson and Andy in space. In space. No one can hear us. Schotzky. Congratulations to everyone at NASA on a successful launch, including the four astronauts, Reid Wiseman, Victor Glover, Christina Koch and Jeremy Hansen. I'm excited. This is like. I feel like I was a kid watching the Apollo missions turned out just like in the old days to witness the first manned moon mission since 1972 at Cape Canaveral. One space fan, I believe captured the true spirit of the moment.

[Paul Simon]

Why do you want to be here?

[Stephen Colbert]

Why do you love space? Why do you love being a part of history? We're going back to the moon.

[Paul Simon]

That's right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah. Come on. Freaking moon.

[Stephen Colbert]

You tell them, Cameron. That says it all. Reminds me of that famous children's book. Good night, mother. Passengers on a nearby commercial flight were able to capture this view of the launch from the airplane. That's cool, though. I got a feel for the pilot. Ladies and gentlemen, if you look out your port side windows, you'll see the historic Artemis launch, which, for the record, I could totally do. Pilots are basically sideways astronauts. Soon we'll be landing in Cleveland, which many have called the moon of Ohio. The trip did have really a lot of Cleveland people here. Lot of Cleveland. The trip did have a couple of hiccups. There were a couple of hiccups just a few hours in. There was already a software problem. Here's Captain Wiseman. I also see that I have two Microsoft Outlooks and neither one of those are working.

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

If you want to reboot in and

[Stephen Colbert]

check Optimus on those two Outlooks, that would be awesome. This just goes to show that no matter what job you have, no matter how far you journey from Mother Earth, outlook sucks. And at 7:49pm tonight, the Artemis II made its last fuel burn on the way to the moon, igniting its engines for 5 minutes and 51 seconds exactly to escape Earth's gravitational pull on a path toward the moon. Okay, that's unbelievable. You see, from here on out, their course is actually determined by inertia, momentum and gravity. And we know this thanks to the calculations of Sir Isaac Newton, who in sight, 1665 famously said, Wee. There was one. Yeah, that's how. Yeah, that's the apple. That was the apple. There was one other problem after the launch. Reportedly when Artemis II started its Earth orbit, there was a bit of toilet trouble on board. Now, I don't want to go into details. Just say Artemis 1 was okay, but Artemis 2 was not recommended. It's understandable there might be difficulties. After all, this is the first time a real toilet has been installed on a mission into deep space. On the old Apollo missions, crews used waste collection bags. And listen, I gotta say, if pooping in a bag is what it takes to be an astronaut, I know a gentleman on the D train who's got the right stuff. Yes, he's got some stuff. I don't know if it's the right stuff, but he's definitely got some stuff. Let's take a look at the problematic waste disposal unit. Evidently, NASA has finally achieved Coachella Porta Potty technology. Anyway, they fixed it with the help of our new sponsor.

[Paul Simon]

Do you have a clogged toilet and

[Stephen Colbert]

have left the planet? Then call us kowalski and Sun, SpaceX space plumbers. We'll come to you wherever you are in the galaxy. We specialize in all types of space plumbing issues. Misaligned nebula flapper, Vulcan valve melt the lithium crystal calcification wookie hair and drain, accidental toilet potation pipe trebles and Battlestar galactic clock. We can even handle this. So poop long and prosperity. Call Kowalski and sun space plumbers. Today we put Uranus first new sponsor. $40 million new sponsor. Speaking of human waste, just a few hours ago we learned that President Trump fired Attorney General Pam Bondi.

[Paul Simon]

Everything's pretty good.

[Stephen Colbert]

Ye.

[Paul Simon]

There we go. There it is.

[Stephen Colbert]

Now in listen, in tribute to Pam Bondi, I offer this heartfelt farewell. Evidently, the President had some issues with the way Bondi did her job, but sources say that he was particularly frustrated over her handling of the Epstein files. Saying that the villain of the Epstein files is Pam Bondi is like saying the lead in Die Hard is the dad from Family Matters. Trump made the announcement on social media. Pam Bondi is a great American patriot and a loyal friend who faithfully served as my Attorney General over the past year. We love Pam and she will be transitioning to a much needed and important new job in the private sector to be announced at a date in the near future. No, it's great. It's a much needed job at a very important farm upstate. There will be lots of room for her to run around. Unfortunately, we can't go visit her now. Let's go to the strip mall and get you a new Attorney General, buddy. Come on. Okay. I've put it off. She'll be fine. She's gonna be fine. Okay. I've put it off long enough. Last night, Trump gave a primetime address about the Iran war. And it was all the stuff you've heard before, but now delivered by a narcotized turtle. The speech was billed as a major update on the month long war. But the only real information he offered was, was that other wars lasted longer.

[Paul Simon]

It's very important that we keep this conflict in perspective. American involvement In World War I lasted one year, seven months and five days. World War II lasted for three years, eight months and 25 days. The Korean War lasted for three years, one month and two days. The Vietnam War lasted for 19 years, five months and 29 days. Iraq went on for eight years, eight months and 28 days.

[Stephen Colbert]

Frazier went on for 11 years, one month and 36 minutes. Suddenly, Susan was only four years, two days and three box tops. Sex in the City was six years, unless you count. And just like that, which personally I don't, because my Miranda would never leave Steve. Now, Trump told us what we can expect next. And it was a little all over the map.

[Paul Simon]

We are going to hit them extremely hard over the next two to three weeks. We're going to bring them back to the Stone Ages where they belong. In the meantime, discussions are ongoing.

[Stephen Colbert]

What? Huh? What? Holy whiplash, Batman. Look, I got a message for Dr. Bone Smasher. When I meet you in the ring tomorrow night, brother, I'm going to crush your spine into a fine powder, then cut it into lines and snort it up. Also, Carol and I are doing a small brunch thing tomorrow at our place. We love you to come and bring the fam. You got a great show for you tonight coming up.

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

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[Stephen Colbert]

Welcome back everybody, ladies and gentlemen, my first guest tonight is Paul Simon. It's Good to see you again.

[Paul Simon]

It's great to be here.

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

You. You're about to go on tour again?

[Paul Simon]

Yeah, I'm. I'm leaving Monday, and the first show we play is in Prague. We play in Europe. Okay. And for a couple of months, and then we come back to the United States and play in the summer here.

[Stephen Colbert]

You went over to Europe when you were first starting out, Right. You'd had. You and Art had done Tom and Jerry here and then.

[Paul Simon]

Oh, that's when we were. Yeah, we were 16.

[Stephen Colbert]

Right. And then you had done some of the folk scene here, right?

[Paul Simon]

Tiny bit. I moved to London in 1964. Or really kind of. Yeah, it was 64. It was after the Kennedy assassination, and I lived there for two years, until the end of 16.

[Stephen Colbert]

Is this one of those. It says this is in Norwich, England. It says on the back of there. There you go. What did you.

[Paul Simon]

You can see.

[Stephen Colbert]

What did that experience do for your music?

[Paul Simon]

You can see the girl in the middle is really into it.

[Stephen Colbert]

Palm of your hand, palm of your hand. Sleepy groupie. So what did that experience going over there to Europe do for your music?

[Paul Simon]

Oh, it had a tremendous effect on my music because that. That culture, the English, what do we call it? Celtic. You know what I mean? Yeah, I love that music. Fell in love with that music. I mean, of course, of here. Here, I would have heard it as a sound in the Everly Brothers, but over there, you hear the. The origins of it. So I fell in love with it. And I learned a lot about guitar. I originally started out playing electric guitar. Then I switched to acoustic, and I learned how to. I learned how to finger pick. I learned. I learned a lot. And I. I was playing like that. That must be pretty early. Pretty early. Probably 64. But I played these folk clubbers, which were really just rooms above a pub. Sometimes they had a mic, sometimes they didn't have a mic. You know, it would be about between maybe 50 and 75 people. And I learned how to be an act, you know, how to put together a set and talk kind of a

[Stephen Colbert]

little pattern, stuff like that.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah, that's right.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you ever busk on the streets? I busked in Europe a little bit when I was young.

[Paul Simon]

You did?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah, yeah, yeah. Terrible mime. But did you do that?

[Paul Simon]

It's tough. Yeah, I did. In Paris. I did. What we would do is find a storefront that had, you know, an entrance, a pretty big entrance way, Not. Not the door right on the street. And so you'd stand in the front of that and there'd be a little bit of echo coming from there.

[Stephen Colbert]

Oh, it'd be like a little amplifier behind.

[Paul Simon]

And then the trick was you start to play, and a group of people, they line, make a semicircle around you. Then a second group comes, and then a third group comes. And when the third group comes, then your partner, who's a pretty girl, comes with a hat to the first group. They can't get out.

[Stephen Colbert]

Write that down, kids. Write that down.

[Paul Simon]

That's show business.

[Stephen Colbert]

Now, when you. You were overseas, when the Sound of Silence hit here in the United States, became a hit.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

When did you know that? Because, you know, we didn't have the Internet at the time. How'd you find out?

[Paul Simon]

Well, there was a magazine called Cashbox. I don't know if it's still. Probably not in existence. Billboard is still in existence. And they used to have the top 100 and then what they called bubbling under, which was 100 to 120. And Artie says to me, you know, we're like 111 on bubbling under. I said, really? And then the next week, we were 101, and I was heading to play a show in Denmark. And I knew that when I took a ferry from Aarhus to Copenhagen, and I knew that that was, you know, the new publication of Cashbox would come out. So I'm waiting around and waiting around until the publisher office opened. And I went in there and I got the magazine and I said, I just can't bear to look at it. I'm just going to. Because I know if it comes in anywhere between 180, that's not. You're not going to have a hit. So I just sort of quickly go, good. It's not there. You know, And I go, okay, now, 80 to 70. Not there. Okay, that could be good. Now I go one at a time, 70 to 69, 68, 63, 60. I say, oh, my God. And I take the paper away, and it's there. It is, 59. And I said, I'll never forget this. I said, my life is irrevocably changed. It was. So why are they applauding?

[Stephen Colbert]

Applauding because they're glad it irrevocably changed at that moment. So you came back to the United States with a hit.

[Paul Simon]

Oh, thanks so much.

[Stephen Colbert]

So you come back with a hit in your pocket. Your tour includes some new stuff, some of the old stuff. You sometimes say that you love an interesting song. What do you find interesting about a song? What makes a song interesting to you?

[Paul Simon]

Lots of Different. Lots of different reasons. Could be harmonically or rhythmically or lyrically. I mean, hopefully all of those combined to have. Make a certain. If it's right, a certain kind of special musical explosion or implosion either way, you know, so. So that's what. That's what makes it interesting to me if I say, oh, I'd like to go over. Yeah, I'd like to investigate the harmony over here and maybe see if I can rewrite it or alter it or something like that. The thing that I found that I can't change are the lyrics. Because I'll look at a song and that's maybe 10 years or 15 years old, and I'll say, that could have been a good song if I had written the last verse. If I had written the last verse that should have been written, but that's wrong. And a couple of times I've tried to put a new last. But it doesn't work anyway. But you can change rhythms. You can change context. You know, I mean, you could put a song. I think a song can be almost in any context. It can be a folk melody from, you know, England, and it can be a reggae. It could be a reggae background from Jamaica, could be a South African group, but it's still a song sitting in a context. And so the context becomes interesting. But then the song in and of itself should be interesting. You should be able to take it out of that context and be able to play it, and it should be able to stand up on its own.

[Stephen Colbert]

You've started taking requests on stage with a certain incentive you're looking for. Can we show this clip right now, Sam? So cash makes a difference.

[Paul Simon]

Well, what happened? It does.

[Stephen Colbert]

I was just wondering if me and my friend Mr. Jackson here could entice you. Into doing something so. Right.

[Paul Simon]

Oh, I'm doing that anyway. You keep it.

[Stephen Colbert]

The show is the show. Exactly. I want to keep the cash. Exactly. Something like that, yeah.

[Paul Simon]

What happened was somebody was yelling out from the audience, sing. And I said, no, we're not doing that in this. We're not doing it in this set, you know, and he still kept yelling. So I said, okay, but it'll cost you. I want $20. I'm like, nobody moves. And I said, no, seriously. So he came and he gave me the $20, and I picked it up and I played a little bit of.

[Stephen Colbert]

Now I'm curious. I've heard you. We've discussed this several times before, that you write lyrics after you write the music. As. As you were saying, when the lyrics of A song come to you. Do you ever resist the lyrics? Yeah. And go like, eh, I don't know what that means. Or I don't like what that means.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah, more like that, I might say, like a lot of songs. A lot of my songs used to begin. And they were, they were. They were really angry in the beginning.

[Stephen Colbert]

Angry. Paul Simon.

[Paul Simon]

Yep. And I'd say, okay, so slow down.

[Stephen Colbert]

You move too fast. Gotta make the morning laugh. Skipping down the cobblestones, you lamppost. Feeling groovy, my ass. Sorry. I know you love that song, but what about Graceland? So like, I'm going to Graceland.

[Paul Simon]

But anyway, let me dispense with the anger. So I say, okay. So that's like something in me. But I. I don't want to start off with an angry premise. I'm not going to do that. So get rid of that. That's first thought. That's not that. Now I'll just sort of, you know, wait for the sound to take me to.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay.

[Paul Simon]

A more interesting place.

[Stephen Colbert]

Okay. Like Graceland.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah. Graceland. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Did you. When you first wrote that, did you go, yeah, yeah, I'm going to Graceland. I understand that.

[Paul Simon]

No, when I first wrote, I kept. I was singing. Kept singing, I'm going to Graceland. Graceland. I thought, well, I can't keep that because this song is, you know, I'm playing this with South African musicians and I don't want to write a song about Elvis. I'm not going to. I'm not, you know, I don't know why I'm doing that.

[Stephen Colbert]

And then can I suggest why you were doing that?

[Paul Simon]

Could you suggest.

[Stephen Colbert]

I think. Can I suggest why you might have been doing that?

[Paul Simon]

Oh, I'd love to hear it.

[Stephen Colbert]

I think. And stop me if I'm wrong, I think it might have been a metaphor.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah, that's right. No, I have a thing that goes beep, beep. Metaphor alert. Metaphor alert. Beep, beep. Yeah.

[Stephen Colbert]

Just didn't know if. You know, sometimes poetry is a metaphor. Doesn't. Not literal. Just enough, you know, I mean, you're the lyricist and I'm just a guy who likes your stuff, but have it your way. Okay, fine, whatever. Hey, you know, you're on my Mount Rushmore of American lyricists. It's you. It's actually, there are five on mine. It's you, it's Sondheim, it's Dylan, it's Jackson Brown, and it's John Prine. Those are. Those are my. I'm just curious who's like, who is a lyricist that you look to and go, oh, boy, that is special. That is a extraordinary turn of phrase that surprises even me. Paul Simon.

[Paul Simon]

Well, you mean a lyricist who consistently does that?

[Stephen Colbert]

Yeah.

[Paul Simon]

Well, I would start to say that in the 50s, Chuck Berry wrote things that were so good that they could have been part of the Harlem Renaissance. I mean, and he taught. He taught my whole generation. They're all influenced by Chuck Berry, Bob and the Beatles and everybody. Because he made stories in words of flowed, effortless. And his stories were great stor. Great stories. Maybelline, Johnny B. Goode is a great story. You know, he used to carry his guitar in a gunny sack, I think. What is a gunny sack? You know, what is it? I mean, his descriptions.

[Stephen Colbert]

It was a teenage wedding and the old folks wished them well.

[Paul Simon]

It was, you know, beautiful. Yeah. Such a beauty. Such a beautiful song. So he was a guy who influenced me and my whole generation. In my generation. Bob, of course, is a really interesting lyricist. Let's see. Joni Mitchell's an interesting lyricist.

[Stephen Colbert]

Canadian, unfortunately. I said American. Sorry. Canadian.

[Paul Simon]

Sorry. Yep. Well, yeah, I was lying about that anyway.

[Stephen Colbert]

Mm.

[Paul Simon]

I have to give you some others. Oh, you know.

[Stephen Colbert]

No, you don't have to. We can be done. We can be done right now.

[Paul Simon]

Well, I don't want to make it sound as if that's the only one, because there were so many, you know. Stevie Wonder was a really good storyteller. Really did. I mean, there's a long list. I don't want to just leave the.

[Stephen Colbert]

You can fax it to me later. We'll put it up on the website. Yeah, listen, when the audience sings along with you, because they. I'm sure often they jump in on the lyrics. I saw you last. I think it was last summer, last June. Saw you at Beacon. And you do the boxer and everybody jumps in on the Ly lies. A lot of things go, Ly Lies. What's that like for you? Do you like that? Does it become like a nice dialogue and an emotional exchange with the audience? You're like, shh, I'm the performer. You pay tickets.

[Paul Simon]

Shut up. No, I like it. And on the Ly La La and the boxer, I sort of always put that towards the end of the show because I think it's a very pleasant feeling for an audience to sing, you know, to sing together and have that feeling. The only place where I'm really wary of it is Dublin or Belfast, because they take the song and sing it in their tempo at whatever they want. You know, you're accompanying them. That's just the way it is there.

[Stephen Colbert]

Yo Yo Ma was here a couple months ago, and one of the things he said is he has been. As he goes on with his career, he's increasingly asking himself, what is music for? He's trying to answer that question for himself with his performances. I'm just curious, what do you believe that music is for?

[Paul Simon]

Well, I'm not sure. I mean, it's interesting that that was a question that he thought about. You know, it's so much a part of the species. It's the first. It's. It's always been there. And it's a mystery why it can produce these emotions in people, you know, sorrow and war or John Philip Sousa, you know, I mean, he writes this music that are marches and you have to get up and march. It's like he's got a da da da da da da da da da. That's pretty amazing. You write.

[Stephen Colbert]

That's pretty great. Yeah, it's like magic.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah, you could say if there's magic.

[Stephen Colbert]

Don't give me permission to say things. It's my show.

[Paul Simon]

Of course. Yes, of course.

[Stephen Colbert]

You got some nerve.

[Paul Simon]

Yeah.

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

Yeah.

[Paul Simon]

So you what?

[Stephen Colbert]

What?

[Paul Simon]

Huh?

[Stephen Colbert]

Alice, I just don't want to let you go. They turned off the cameras a long time ago. Paul, thank you for being here. 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, you, YouTube channel for more clips, exclusives. I'm back. I'm really back. School spirits returns. Why am I here?

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

Not dead, right?

[Stephen Colbert]

This place is an absolute death trap. We need to get out of here now. School Spirits new season now streaming only on Paramount.

[Commercial/Announcer Voice]

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[Stephen Colbert]

We're coming at you with everything we got.

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[Paul Simon]

Free.

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This is the mantra.

[Paul Simon]

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[Paul Simon]

Huzzah.

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