Watch Steven Tyler Teach Stephen Colbert Microphone Stand Technique
Aerosmith‘s Steven Tyler dropped by the Late Show Friday to talk about his latest country single, his new charitable initiative Janie’s Fund and the art of commanding the microphone stand. With the charity still in its infancy, Tyler has called upon friends like Bono, Elton John and others to spread word of Janie’s Fund using Tyler’s “classic scarf-wrapped microphone stand.” The singer asked Colbert to lend his voice as well, and what followed was a crash course on Tyler’s signature onstage dance moves.
Colbert expressed his own anxiety about singing into a microphone. “How do you rock out with a mic, because I sometimes have to sing with a mic and I don’t know what to do. I don’t know whether to be rough with it, I don’t know whether to treat it like a lady,” Colbert said. “How do I approach the mic in a way that I can have a relationship with it?”
Tyler said he treats the microphone stand like it’s more than just a metal pole. “This is my girlfriend that I live vicariously through on stage,” he told Colbert. Tyler then teaches Colbert how to pivot on a heel, caress the stand and seamlessly sing into the microphone, “Dude looks like a lady.” “I am possessed by the spirit of Steven Tyler,” Colbert told the audience.