Paul Simon Makes Suprise Appearance On ‘The Late Show’

Friday night’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert featured musical guest Troubled Waters, a group billed by CBS as a Paul Simon tribute band. Little was known about Troubled Waters and it turned out the tribute band was in fact Paul Simon himself.

At the top of the show Colbert explained he wanted to get Paul Simon on the program but was unsuccessful and Troubled Waters was the next best thing to having the real performer appear. Prior to their performance the host introduced the band as a group he’d seen at a friend’s barbeque last summer. Backed by his band, Simon then performed his classic “Me And Julio Down By The Schoolyard” assisted by Colbert handling the whistling solo and singing a verse.

Watch Troubled Waters make their live television debut:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Xdx8G2iZq-M

Colbert also had Simon close out the show with a performance of “American Tune” noting the final episode of the first week of the new late night talk show fell on September 11th. After a funny exchange in which Colbert (continuing the Troubled Waters charade) referred to Simon as “Alan” who replied, “You can call me Al,” the musician launched into the poignant, solo acoustic rendition of the song in honor of the tragic day in history, watch:

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=VpTcLUDorRI