colbert-alicia-keys

Alicia Keys was on “The Colbert Report” last night to promote her new album, and it was top-to-bottom excellent television. Not only did she capably match wits with Colbert during her interview (and look so, so, SO hot doing it), but she then played “Empire State of Mind,” and Colbert — who lamented the lack of shout-outs to the suburbs in the song — filled in on Jay-Z’s verse, changing the lyrics to fit his own New York story about moving from the Upper East Side to a gated community in Connecticut. It was really, truly AWESOME.

As good as Colbert is as a fake pundit, I always like him best when he takes on the broader role of entertainer-at-large. In fact, I’m going to go ahead and put my vote in for an Alicia Keys/Steven Colbert variety show. I’d watch the sh-t out of that. They could do it unscripted and it’d still be better than Jay Leno.

(Video of the interview and performance below.)

(Keys’s mention of sheep is a reference to this skit with “Mad Men’s” John Slattery from earlier in the show.)

[YouTube versions of the videos at RealTalkNY]