Elvis Costello Says He Put His Own Name Forward for Colbert’s Late Show Band

Before Jon Batiste became the first bandleader of The Late Show in 2015, Elvis Costello had put his own name forward for the job. Speaking on Rolling Stone Music Now, Costello says the idea came up while Colbert was asking his advice about the role. “I said, ‘What about me?’ And I think he thought I was joking, and I said, ‘No, I’m not joking.'” For a period, the possibility was discussed seriously.

Costello had a working model in mind: the Roots, who had traded touring for a nightly desk at The Tonight Show and, in his view, gained stability without giving up records. He cites Branford Marsalis’s tenure at the same show, and a family thread — his father sang in a BBC radio dance band.

Geography settled it. Costello was the only Impostor living in New York; keyboardist Steve Nieve is based in Paris. Relocating three band members, he says, would have demanded too much, at a cost no one could reasonably carry.

His own assessment is blunt. Had he taken the job, he suspects the network would have fired him within about three weeks. Batiste, he adds, was the right fit, and built a career well beyond television. Costello did reach the show eventually: Colbert sang “Jump Up” with him on the May 21 finale. The anecdote arrives alongside My Aim Is True (49th Anniversary Edition), the box set that prompted the conversation.