David Letterman and his longtime cohort Paul Shaffer discussed a great many things about their lengthy stint as the host and bandleader of Late Show with David Letterman. At one point during the interview, Letterman reflected fondly on the show’s various musical guests, singling out, in particular, last year’s star-making performance by The Orwells.
The young Elmhurst natives appeared on the program in early 2014, busting through a chaotic rendition of “Who Needs You” that is still memorable to Letterman more than 12 months later. “After all these years, something like that really tickles me,” Letterman said of the performance.
Break out the headphones.
And watch for the reaction of Letterman and Shaffer at the end.
Great tune! I wonder if the lead guitarist thought Dave and Paul were fucking with them at the end. He didn’t seem too eager to join in, especially once the house band started playing their song back to them. The Orwells broke up in 2018, so I was curious as to why. Wikipeida says …
But I think they’re back together now.
Yeah, those are pretty horrible allegations. At least there were some consequences.
The guitarist seems to hold his guitar up at the end like “I can’t play it” – so I thought maybe he broke a string or had some electronic malfunction.
I hadn’t heard of this band, so I read the full Wikipedia entry, which says this regarding Letterman:
Their performance was enthusiastically received, so much that Letterman and others called for an encore. The band did not respond, partly because guitarist Matt O’Keefe had broken all of his strings and physically could not play. After waiting for the Orwells, the house band reprised the Orwells’ song and Paul Shaffer parodied the way that Mario Cuomo had lain on his back, thrashing.
When watching it, I thought I detected an “are they mocking us?” bemusement from the band.