I’m sure anyone who watched Tuesday night’s episode of the Colbert Report, which was billed as Colbchella ‘013, noticed the lack of Daft Punk on stage. Colbert explained to the audience and viewers the nature behind their absence, but in case you missed it you’re going to have to read this to believe it. Because MTV had booked Daft Punk to perform at the upcoming Video Music Awards, the helmet-wearing electronic duo were supposedly contractually disallowed from playing any other television performance. Colbert explains it as such:
Here’s the story: it’s a true story. We booked click and clack over here about a month ago. This network is owned by Viacom, which is also the owner of MTV… Apparently, Daft Punk are going to make a surprise appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards. Don’t tell anyone, because fun fact: no one told me until two hours ago.
Colbert was obviously displeased by this turn of events (even jokingly breaking out a bottle hidden under his desk while he told the news), but definitely made light of the situation. Bringing out Ashton Kutcher saying that the whole thing was another rendition of MTV’s Punk’d was the first in his celebrity-fueled episode. What followed was pure genius: Colbert, who had promised the song to his audience, played Daft Punk’s hit Get Lucky and danced along to it, with some notable guest appearances. Hugh Laurie, Matt Damon, Henry Kissinger, the Breaking Bad cast (most notably Bryan Cranston on roller skates), Jeff Daniels, the hosts of America’s Got Talent, and Jimmy Fallon all provided cameos in the song’s play. And Colbert realized that there’s more than one official song-of-the-summer this year, and surprised the audience with another hit performed live; Robin Thicke entertained the audience with a live version of his hit song Blurred Lines, which went off without a hitch. Though it had a rocky start, Colbchella ‘013 was still a memorable night and an entertaining experience. If you still want to catch Daft Punk perform on TV apparently there’s only one place to do it this year, and that will be at the MTV VMAs on August 25th.