“Excuses Song” with Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste, & Stay Human

With the world opening back up, people are getting together. So what do you do now when you need to get out of plans? Luckily, Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste, and friends have a whole mess of excuses you can use, plus a HOT NEW JAM to help you remember them.

Excited to finally share this music video I directed, DP’d, and edited for The Late Show with Stephen Colbert about excuses you can use to get out of plans with friends – featuring Stephen Colbert, Jon Batiste, and our whole house band Stay Human – and I think it might be the most visually ambitious thing I’ve shot to date, and also VERY stupid.

This was definitely some of the most fun I’ve had visually since I started working here. It was a blast to have an excuse to throw just everything at the camera. (Colors! Lighting tubes everywhere!) And also my first time shooting anamorphic, which was – no surprise – incredibly fun. (Flares in every shot! MORE flares!)

Big thank yous to Michael Cruz Kayne for writing the lyrics, Louis Cato for the music, and Emily Potthast for producing. And MAJOR thanks to our costume, wardrobe, hair, makeup, lighting, scenic & props teams for bringing some SOLID late ’90s / early 00’s vibes to this jam. It was a big one!

Thanks to everyone on the Late Show team and an extra shout-out to my producer Emily who’s also responsible for pitching this bit in the first place and really pushed it into reality. Thank you, Em! We had so much fun! It was totally worth it.

UPDATE: Thanks for the shout-outs, Variety & Entertainment Tonight!