Stephen Colbert sometimes sings with his musical guests on The Late Show, and he did so back in 2016 with John Prine. The two joined forces for an unaired performance of “That’s The Way The World Goes Round,” and the video was previously uploaded online as a web-exclusive clip. However, Colbert decided to share the clip again during yesterday’s Late Show broadcast, in light of Prine’s coronavirus diagnosis.
Before airing the performance, Colbert offered a newly recorded message, in which he says:
“I’d like to take a moment right now to send out a personal message to a friend. Last week, our friend and yours, the musical great John Prine, was placed on a ventilator with coronavirus symptoms. My thoughts are with John and his wife Fiona and his family and everybody out there touched by this virus. I’d like to share with you right now one of the happiest moments I’ve had on my show or any show, and that’s when John and I sang a duet back in 2016 that we never broadcast, but we’d like to now. Happy enchilada, John.”
Eerily, Colbert said in the original performance clip, “We’ll probably do this for the internet, unless something terrible happens and we have to cheer up the world on the TV show.” As the two shared the stage, it was clear on Colbert’s face that he was thrilled just to be in the same room with the legend.
Watch Prine and Colbert perform “That’s The Way The World Goes Round” above.