I wouldn't say that Colbert was "hilariously off-key," as the description suggests.

He's obviously quite proud of his singing voice, and why not? Sounded good to me.

I personally enjoy his low harmony on 'the star-spangled banner'.

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the "NAFTAgate" story a few back is false.
it was not the clinton camp that secretly reached out to the Canadian government to assure them that they were lying to the american public with regards to changing NAFTA, it was the Obama camp.
so clinon did not "frame" obama, and clinton did not lie, it was actually Obama that was misleading the voters about his position, and he sent Goolsbie to reassure the "conservative" (canadian republicans) govt that he had no intentions of doing what he had promised publicly.

and even better, it was the "conservative" (republican) gov't that then mislead the press into believing it was a clinton aide and not an obama aide (goolsbie): why are the canadian conservatives (republicans) trying to help derail the clinton campaign while having private consultations with obama?

here is the story

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"Hilariously off key"??

Clearly you are no Simon Cowell. Colbert's voice is amazing, and he is easily on par with Legend here. Take a look at his performance with Barry Manilow; the guy really knows how to sing.

Perhaps you are mistaking his effortlessly brilliant harmonies for hitting the wrong notes?

Keep on belting out, Stephen.

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The orignal post reads: "Naturally Stephen isn't as gentile as Paul McCartney when it gets to the bantering part of the song." Could the writer have meant "gentle," or is he trying to insinuate something about Colbert no one would ever surmise? Anyway, rock on, Stephen; I'm with the above posters who applaud his singing. Maybe next time he'll do something backed up by a Klezmer band!

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I always hated this song, but I really like this version, with just the piano and without the 80s overproduction.

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Not at all what I expected from the summary- I thought he sounded super. Funny, we just re-watched an old clip last night- Stephen at the White House Correspondants Dinner. That's the best clip anywhere... but this was lovely too.

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Colbert just gets better and better, and his multiple talents--including singing quite well, I might add--are a treasure. If there were any moments that were under pitch, I think the other guy was the guilty party. But "hilarious" definitely does apply to his absolutely dead pan self-mockery as a cool night club act.

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I guess you never took music lessons. But you still should be able to listen. He was quite good. I find that Colbert can do countless things. If he's not good at it, he doesn't do it. He's also good on the guitar. Anna

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as a musician, i have to agree with the other comments-- he's not "off-key", as you say, at all. in fact, he hits the center of most of his pitches. he's obviously not a professional, but the humor of this certainly isn't from him sucking.

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He does a great job harmonizing, plus he has at least one good riff of descending notes, hits each one with good definition (I'm sure there's a term for this).

Careful Mr. Howard or you'll be accused of being tone-deaf! ;)

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Colbert sounded great - and better than JL most of the time.

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So far, everyone agrees that Colbert is one very multi-talented dude. I was actually distracted by the introduction expecting to hear some embarrassing off-key moments. You have made a mistake. Now please admit it and stand corrected. I really enjoyed the performance.

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but to say that he was better than John Legend is pushing it. Plus, John was playing the piano beautifully to boot. Colbert did pretty good for a white boy...

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