Stephen Colbert was supposed to have Daft Punk appear on the Colbert Report this week as a part of his StePhest Colbchella bit to do a performance of their summer hit “Get Lucky.”
But if you were watching the Report last night, you know that Colbert didn’t get his guests — however, he did get a hilarious bit out of it by ripping MTV up and down for pulling rank and interfering with his show. Hilariously.
During the segment, we learned that the Daft Punk Colbert Report appearance was kiboshed by MTV by President of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group at Viacom Van Toffler. The Viacom head pulled exclusivity rank, and clearly angered Colbert.
The host said:
“You see, we booked Click and Clack over here about a month ago. Well, apparently, Daft Punk are going to make a surprise appearance on the MTV Video Music Awards. Don’t tell anybody, because fun fact: No one told me until two o’ clock yesterday.”
Stephen also read Van Toffler’s email out complete with annoyingly casual wording, in which the MTV head said he’s “not sure [he] can help [Colbert] on that one,” adding he’d “checked in with [his] peeps… they’re feelin’ funky on this one.”
Barf.
Colbert referred to Van Toffler as “Van Wilder” and “Flan Cobbler,” and added:
“If Daft Punk were on my show, people wouldn’t tune into see them on the VMAs almost a month from now. That’s how music works. You love a band, you see them once, then never want to see them again. That’s why after the Beatles went on Ed Sullivan, they dropped off the face of the Earth. I think Ringo ended up working as a train conductor.”
You can watch Stephen Colbert rip Viacom bros MTV in the clip above.