For the most part, guests on television talk shows tend to be actors, there to promote a show or movie or whatever they have out now/soon. People in other lines of work sometimes get screen time, too, but if you ask Chris Martin, musicians are a low-priority talk show guest.
The Coldplay leader is the guest on a new episode of the Conan O’Brien Needs A Friend podcast that debuted March 19. At the start, O’Brien noted how Martin has been on his various TV shows with Coldplay on numerous occasions, but that he never got the chance to have a substantial conversation with him. Martin replied, “I also felt that in the chat show hierarchy, singers are right at the bottom. I don’t know if that’s true. It’s like, ‘We’ve got this guy juggling koalas, he’s on before you. And a guy that was once on a rerun of a pilot, he’s on before you. And then at 2 a.m., we’re going to talk to you for one minute, and then we’re going to cut to…’ I thought, ‘OK, cool.’”
He understands why that may sometimes be the case, though. After making note of their recent Saturday Night Live appearance and how well Pedro Pascal did as host, he said, “If you think about all competitive music shows, The Voice, you have to remember everything is a TV show, or the Grammys. That’s what it is first and foremost. And so even if you’re the most interesting composer in the world, it might not be great TV.”
Check out clips from the interview above and below, or find the full episode here.
Coldplay is a Warner Music artist. Uproxx is an independent subsidiary of Warner Music Group.