By now, people should know not to mess with master satirist (and Northwestern alum) Stephen Colbert lest you wind up being skewered on his Comedy Central show The Colbert Report. This morning, MTV’s Van Toffler is learning that the hard way. Last night, Colbert’s musical guest should have been Daft Punk who were to perform their hit “Get Lucky.” Except the band pulled out at the last minute due to a contractual obligation. It seems – SPOILER ALERT – Daft Punk was slated to be a (the?) surprise guest at this year’s MTV Video Music Awards on August 25 and Toffler, President of MTV Networks Music & Logo Group at Viacom, Inc. (who also own Comedy Central on which Colbert’s show appears) put his foot down on sharing TV appearances despite the 18 days between the two appearances.
So Colbert did what he does best: set Toffler and MTV aflame with sarcasm and laughter. Spending the whole show on the controversy, Colbert spoils the VMA surprise, lights into Toffler, dances to “Get Lucky,” brings in a few celebrity surprises of his own, and tops it all off with a substitute – and pretty damn good – performance by Robin Thicke, singer of that other song of the summer, “Blurred Lines.” Check out the opening segment, featuring the best digs at Toffler and MTV, below and watch the entire episode at Colbert Nation.
