Welcome to the show. Welcome to the late show. Thanks so much, everybody. cheers and applause welcome to can the late show, ladies and gentlemen. Thank you so much, thank you so much. Im your host, stephen colbert, and you are here on a very special night. A little later i will be sitting down with Bruce Springsteen. cheers and applause jon obviously. Well see if we can get to it. Everyone is talking about this donald trump guy, and i do mean everyone. Yesterday, the dalai lama appeared on a british morning show and said this have you met donald trump . Never. What do you think of him . I dont know. Sometimes when you see him, the the way his hair Something Like that. Stephen thats a pretty good impression. Thought you said you never met him. Because his hair is like this, and his mouth is like. Jon oh, man stephen i wonder how that feels. How does that feel . Imagine being trashtalked by the dalai lama. Jon thats serious. Stephen i have to wonder what did he do in a previous life . I thought trump would have an affinity with i thought buddhists would leak trump because if he gets the nuclear codes, we could all achieve nothingness. That was a pretty good burn by the dalai lama. I cant imagine the dalai lama at a roast. Your mother was so fat, she was reincarnated at two people. Namaste. Lets see what else is happening. Tech news. You guys like apple products . You guys have the iphone and apple just patented an exciting new innovation a paper bag. You know its the latest in Bag Technology because theres no headphone jack. Now, why would somebody need this new apple bag. Apple explained that in this actual quote from their patent application, bags are often used for containing items. Now, i didnt understand all that technical jargon, but it out with another new product items. Could be. Now, im a famous tv guy, so i get all the latest apple gageets in advance. So i happen to have a beta model of the new apple bag right here. Here we go. Just look at this beautiful, smooth design. There, its just so its so intuitive. Hard to believe its only 900. And to make the bag even more sleek and user friendly, apple has done away with the hole in the top. But, if you really need one, they are selling these hole adapters for only 79 opinion 95 right here. If you want to, you can reapply up there. I also purchased and these are really fantastic. Theyre the latest thing. I handles for the bag. Im having a little trouble getting them to pair right now. Whatever. Not to be outdone, samsung has unveiled their new galaxy tote 7. Can we sue the footage, jim . There you go. cheers and applause thats a hot item thats a hot item. Jon its on fire stephen do not stomp that out if it appears on your there is also an exciting new product just parthe ladies out there. There are two ladies out there. A spanish car manufacturer and apparently there is one teamed up with cosmo magazine to design a car specifically for the cosmo woman. You can tell its by cosmo, because the seats can be put in 75 different positions. And one of them will drive your man wild. laughter applause now, i dont good luck. I dont understand what makes the car for women. Im sure a man could operate this car just as easily. Although, he might have trouble finding the button that turns it on. I hear upon i hear. I hear theres a problem sometimes. Oh, i want to remind everyone that the late show will be broadcasting live this monday after the first president ial debate. So be sure to tune in, whichever candidate youre enraged by. Because Hillary Clinton and donald trump are the two least popular Major Party Nominees in american history. Luckily, you have options, because according to the federal election comission, 1,928 people have declared their candidacy for president this year. And before you ask, no none of them was michelle obama. I know. The number of declared candidates has more than quadrupled since the last election cycle, because the f. E. C. Has started accepting filings on the internet. So now there are some goofy candidates who have no real shot, like cobra commander; yoda starwars; and best of all, theres a listing that says god is running for president. Thats great news. I was worried this election was proof there is no god. Because of all those scandals in his past. Did you know he turned lots wife into a pillar of salt . Thats going to hurt him with soccer moms. Hold on a second, stephen. Stephen. Stephen of. Stephen god, is that you . Yes, thats me, right behind this thing. Yeah, here i am. Stephen why are you running for president . People really want to be in the race. They look at hillary and trump and say, god help u i think so so. Stephen do you have a running mate yet . Dont bring it up. Ive narrowed it down to either the son or the holy ghost. And whoever i dont pick, is gonna be pissed. Juniors very sensitive. Stephen hell forgive you. Maybe. Stephen isnt your age going to be an issue . No. If you read the bible, youll see ive mellowed with age. Besides, ive got a onepage letter from my doctor saying im extremely healthy. Stephen glad to hear it. Thats good to hear. He wrote it while i was in the limo. Stephen god, where do you stand on the issues, like, for instance, Global Warming. Hey, dont blame Global Warming on me. I was one burning bush. But i do have a plan arks for everybody nothing like riding out the flood on the high seas, listening to yaks doing it. They make a lot of noise. Ill tell you. Nothing louder than a yak in the sack, stephen. laughter stephen lets move on, go i dont want to question your ys, god, but if you dont win, would you endorse one of the other candidates . Oof, i dont know. I mean, trumps asked for my help, but hes got tiny hands, so his prayers arent very effective. laughter stephen well, i wish you luck in your campaign, god. What do you think your chances are . Pretty good everywhere but the Southern States. Stephen why not the Southern States . Im just not religious enough for them. Springsteen. Thank you, god. Oh, springsteen is the real guy . Theres no one road out there. No one surface. No one speed. No one way of driving on each and every road. But there is one car that can conquer them all. Ring, shift points, and suspension to fit the mood youre in. And the road youre on. The 2016 cclass. Lease the c300 for 369 a month at your local mercedesbenz dealer. Discover the wonder of johnsons new extra moisturizing bath routine. With 10x more moisturizer in our wash and an ultrarich cream for 24hour hydration th two layers, pampers have three absorbent layers to stay up to three times drier, so babies can sleep soundly all night. I am sebastian artois. Brewmaster. Risktaker. I sold everything i had to own a brewery. You might have heard its name. Stella artois be legacy with advil, youll ask what twisted ankle . What muscle strain . Advil makes pain a distant memory nothing works faster stronger or longer what pain . cheers and applause welcome back, ladies and gentlemen. My first guest tonight is the master american troubadour of my lifetime. Ladies and gentleman, Bruce Springsteen cheers and applause . . . Yeah audience Bruce Stephen welcome to the show. Thank you. Thanks. Stephen thank you for be have you. Do you recognize the song they were playing you cant judge a book by its cover. Get out stephen can which is on the companion album to your book. Its called chapter and verse. 50 years of music on here from you. Yeah. Stephen that song, too. 50 years and loss of hearing for me, also. Right. Stephen so you cant recorded that . Well, that was recorded in a little club called the left foot in freehold, new jersey applause whoa youve never been there. laughter and i was 16. 16. Stephen wow. Well, if you cant judge a book by the cover, lets talk about the cover. There it is, your new memoir so lets judge this book by its cover. Can you tell me about this guy on cover of this book . How old are you there . Im 27. Stephen youre 27. 27. Stephen what would you what do you think this guy at 27 would say if he saw this guy at 67 . Okay. Ed where my car go . Whos the old man in the suit jacket . And what did he do with my hair . You know. Stephen so why did you write a book . Youve been writing for years, you know. Its an autobiography, but your songs unless im wrong are auto biographical. They seem that way. Stephen yeah. They seem that way . Have you been lying to us in the songs all these years, bruce . Thats what artists do. They lie in service of the truth. Stephen really. Of course,. Stephen is that what you tell the judge . So what were you abl d songs . The book is very different. You have you have to you still have to find rhythm, and you have to find music in the proez that youre writing, but theres a lot more space to delve into deeper details. And also, an autobiography, people know its immediately about your life. Whereas the songs, theres always a question. Street. Book people know, its directly from your experience. Stephen well, its its like your music in that its its beautiful, incredibly moving. Every practically every paragraph that ive read in this has been like poetry. Whoa stephen no, but also but, no lets go there. Stephen but its also like listening to you talk at the same time. How the vice of this book . What was the process of writing this book like for you . It started when we played the super bowl, which is, even if youve been at it a long time, its a little bit of a hairy a hairy evening. Stephen you might slide on your knees and grind your groin into a camera, like i seem to remember you doing. Thats true. Thats just one of the many things that could happen. laughter but after, it ended up being quite an experience, so i wrote voice i found in the essay. It felt like me. So we were in florida for a while after the super bowl, and i sat around, and i said, well maybe ill throw some memories down from when i started. So i just started from the beginning. And i spent about two or three weeks writing, and initially i thought well, you know, i dont know what im going to do with it. Maybe it will just be for the kid to read or s they get older. And then i wrote a little bit more, wrote a little bit more. And i put it away sometimes for a year, even longer when we toured. And i come back to it and i go, thats pretty good. Maybe ill keep going. Eventually it got to a point where i knew i was in the process of writing a book, and but i really kind of wrote it somewhat casually over seven years. Stephen so this is seven years of your life represented right here. Yeah, i think so. Stephen one of the things you say in here is this theater, actually, appears in the book. The ed sullivan theater. Incredible. Stephen because you had a turning point in your life. You awoke to something beautiful. You say when you saw this. Jimmy . . You aint nog but a hound dog you aint nothing but a hound dog . Stephen how old were you when you here at the ed sullivan theater . It still looks great. Stephen yeah. Thats 50 years ago this month, that performance is 50 years ago this month. That makes sense. Im 67. So i was six, seven years old. Stephen so what did you think when you saw it . Its amazing because i was actually that young, but it had a tremendous impact. Im curious as to where he stood here . Stephen i dont know where he stood, but ive been told screaming girls for both elvis and the beatles were up there in that corner right over there. cheers and applause audience bruce can we get some of what for me . cheers lovely. At that would make a good ringtoang. So what did you think when you saw it . You said it changed your life when you saw it . At seven i dont know how much of a life i had it to change, but whatever i had, it struck the me right away. And i ran i got my mother to run down to the store the the next week and we rented a guitar, and i took a swing at playing it for about a month. I gave up. My hands were too small, and they didnt know how they there wasnt anybody teaching twist and shout, or hound dog. I got bored rather quickly and fut away until i was 14 and the beatles were on this stage and it happened to me again so i got struck twice by lightning. Stephen was it just the music or was it the screaming girls part as well . Just the music . Obviously well, at seven im not sure. At 14 it was c theres all these women. How do i get into that business. Stephen well, i want to talk about how you got into the business and well do that when we come back with more Bruce Springsteen. When youve been making delicious natural cheese for over 100 years like kraft has, you learn a lot about peoples tastes. Honey, what do you want for dinner tonight . Oh whatever youre making. Triple cheddar stuffed sliders. More sit per roll. Bounty is two times more absorbent. So one roll of bounty can last longer than those bargain brands. applause stephen welcome back, everybody. Welcome back to the late show. Were here with Bruce Springsteen. Talking about his book request the born to run. Now, before i started getting ready for this interview and read the book, i didnt actually know you were raised a catholic. I dont know why i didnt know that, but i didnt know it. Oh, yeah, oh, yeah. Stephen well, you say in the music for the first time. Thats where i heard. Im not sure what youre talking about. laughter . Stephen that is where i found the beginnings of my song, you said. Oh, yeah. Stephen thats when you found the beginnings of my song. Its a good book. You should read it. I mean laughter applause . . . I dont know about you, but i the beginnings of your song. What do you mean . Where is the catholic in your work . Its not overt. Its pretty overt, you know. Runs nuns run bald through have the halls. Pregnant pleading immaculate conception. applause its its a little overheated that line, but you get the idea of where i was coming from. But no, it just informed my youre in school, first class is religion, of course. And were you a good student of religion . No. I was it all scared me, to be honest with you. But the nuns and the priests or the vision of hell . What scared you about it . Yeah, youre six and, you know, the the vision of hell was hellacious, you know. So and, of course, youre taking as real as desk youre sitting in. So it was a lot it to deal with. But but at the end of day, a lot of language found the way into my music. And i always say that my music is want verses of blues, chorus is the gospel. If you look at the way my songs are built, the verses are always blues and when you get to chorus, hopefully you get a kind of transcendence that i got of gospel music, you know. And those two things are at the core of how i write, but also the language, the ideas, a lot of it came out of the catholic education. Stephen were you an altar boy . I was the i was the worst altar boy on planet earth. laughter you wanted to become an altar boy because you got out of school to rehearse. Stephen you got out of school . You got out of school a little early every week to as an altar boy. Did you think of that as being on stage . I was the only altar boy to be knocked down on stage by the 81yearold monsignor who was serving the mass at the time. Stephen what can you do . First of all, mass then was in latin speaking latin fellow altar boy here. So. So you had to learn ent so i i think i had a prayer or two down but you never really learned anything, and i actually never learned positioning on the altar. I was a real disaster. laughter and, also, you get stuck with the earliest detail. So youre there at youre 4 30 a. M. So youre running down the streets, pitchblack night. You have your cassock behind what im going to do. I said i just dont know. I dont know how to do this. He said, go out and light the candles. I said all right. I cant light the candles. I cant even get them lit. And the mass starts, and now, of course, my mother, her two sisters, entire italian and irish family are there to see me make my debut. And along with all the nuns, because they before they go teach school. And one thing leads to another and i get hauled by my cassock face down to altar. Stephen in the middle of mass . Yeah, in the middle of mass, to an audible gasp from the nuns, my relatives. Who are like theyre done now. Its like, you know. Theyre finished, you know. So that was i dont think i served another mass. I heard you went i did 11 years, 11 years. Never got it right. Thats pretty suppressive. At the beginning of the book and the end of book you talk about something called the magic trick. What do you mean by the magic trick . And to make this a longer question. People ask me if im intimidated about talking to guests and its only musicians. Really. Stephen because you have a magic i dont understand. What is the magic trick to you. Youre there something. I mean, before you go in, its an empty space. Its an empty building. So the audience is going to come, and youre going to show up, and together youre going to manifest something thats very, very real, thats very tangible, but youre going to pull it out of thin air. It wasnt there before you showed up. It didnt it didnt exist. And its its real magic, you know. Thats a little bit of what my assist you, and for us together to create create this sense of whatever you want to call it. You know, it is cathartic, and hopefully on a good night when were at our very, very best, theres a little transcendence, and transsubstantiation . Im not sure what that means, but it might be that means that you are a terrible altar boy. No p i another. Like, you know, you and the audience become another thing. So we do become a bit of another thing. Stephen how do you know youve turned the trick . Its in the air. Its always in the air at night when you theres a moment when you sort of you get lost in it, and you can see grown men in tears and. Not really. laughter stephen when you feel i now because that will push us over the edge. Sometimes it does, but sometimes it doesnt. Every night, funny thing about concert, its never repetitive. You can play the same exact show two nights in a row and not a repetitive experience. If you could have your first kiss on a nightly basis, for some reason, the show provides that sense of newness really regularly. Itse could alter you and youd remember it your whole life. So to be fortunate enough to have it we go out three, four nights a week. We travel the world in front of all different audiences. But the trick is you have to manifest that sense, a sense of us, you know, a sense of whats going what goes on between you and your audience. You know, thats a big part of. Another little break, but dont go away. Well be back more Bruce Springsteen. . . . applause . . Lease a 2016 lincoln mkx for 349 a month. Only at your lincoln dealer. Nighty night. When are they leaving . Grilled cheese and campbells tomato soup go together like grandchildren and chaos. Made for real, real life. I struggle with ing sad and empty. It makes it hard to be there for the people i love. So i talked to my doctor and she prescribed latuda. There are many forms of depression. Latuda is fda