Paul McCartney became the final interview guest on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, using the programme’s closing chapter to revisit The Beatles’ first American visit and reflect on childhood memories that continue to shape his songwriting.
by Paul Cashmere
Paul McCartney closed out the interview era of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert this week, appearing as Colbert’s final guest and turning the show’s farewell episode into a conversation that moved from Beatlemania and American television history to Liverpool childhood memories and the origins of his new music.
The appearance carried added significance beyond the usual late night circuit stop. McCartney’s relationship with American television stretches back to February 1964 when The Beatles performed on The Ed Sullivan Show, a moment often cited as a defining cultural event in modern popular music. Colbert used the occasion of his own final guest interview to revisit that history, creating a full circle moment between two television eras.
The interview opened with a deliberately absurd setup in which Colbert joked that his intended guest, “the Pope”, had cancelled, before McCartney unexpectedly walked onstage. The exchange quickly settled into a more reflective discussion centred on The Beatles’ first impressions of America and the impact of that first Sullivan appearance.
McCartney said memories of that initial arrival in the United States remain vivid. When Colbert asked whether he still hears the screams associated with Beatlemania, McCartney answered simply, “Often”, before jokingly recreating the sound himself.
Returning to the Sullivan Theatre also brought back memories of the original host.
“Mr Sullivan was really nice,” McCartney said. “He was a really cool guy.”
McCartney admitted that despite The Ed Sullivan Show’s status in America, the group had little understanding of its significance before arriving.
“We had never been to America,” he said. “People said it’s like the biggest show. To tell you the truth, we had never heard of him in England.”
The memory then shifted to a more typically McCartney observation. He recalled the makeup department and how The Beatles encountered a more theatrical approach than they had experienced in Britain.
“The girls who put makeup on us, it was like bright orange,” he laughed.
The broader conversation moved beyond television history and into the mindset of a young Liverpool musician seeing America for the first time.
“America was where all the music we loved came from,” McCartney said. “Old rock ‘n’ roll, the blues, the whole thing.”
He described the country through the lens of a Liverpool teenager absorbing imported records.
“America is the land of the free, the greatest democracy,” he said, before adding, “And still is hopefully.”
Stephen Colbert interviews Paul McCartney Part One:
The second segment moved from The Beatles’ public history into more personal territory through discussion of McCartney’s forthcoming album The Boys Of Dungeon Lane.
McCartney explained that Dungeon Lane was an area near Speke in Liverpool where he spent time as a child, describing it as an escape from the tougher environment of his neighbourhood.
“It was all we knew and we loved it,” he said.
He described spending time there exploring and observing birds, joking that he was once an “ornithologist” equipped with a bird identification book. The stories eventually took a darker turn when he recalled being mugged as a child and having his watch stolen.
“They wanted my watch,” McCartney said. “What was I going to do?”
He later reported the incident to police and recovered it.
The conversation also touched on McCartney’s views on ageing and change. He admitted he prefers familiarity over constant updates and modern technological shifts.
“I like things to stay the same because I learned how to do them and then somebody changes that,” he said, citing smartphone updates as a particular frustration.
Colbert also touched on the continuing expansion of The Beatles’ legacy in film and television. Referencing the upcoming multi-film Beatles project and actor casting discussions, McCartney responded with characteristic humour when asked who was better looking, his younger self or his actor counterpart.
“Me,” he answered.
The final appearance also reflected McCartney’s enduring position in popular culture. Six decades after arriving in America as a 21 year old Beatle, he remains a working artist still releasing music, still touring and still drawing connections between Liverpool memories and present day projects.
Stephen Colbert interview Paul McCartney Part Two:
The programme concluded with a performance that brought together McCartney, Stephen Colbert, former Late Show bandleader John Batiste, current musical director Louis Cato, The Great Big Joy Machine and Elvis Costello. The performance opened with Costello’s “Jump Up”, a song dating from the 1974 to 1975 period that later surfaced as an additional track on expanded editions of My Aim Is True, before the ensemble moved into The Beatles classic “Hello Goodbye” as the final musical moment of Colbert’s show.
Jump Up/Hello Goodbye – the final Stephen Colbert song with Colbert, John Batiste, Louis Cato and the Great Big Joy Machine and Elvis Costello.
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