Ranking the greatest BTS late night television moments (so far)
By Matt Moore
Boy With Luv
Anytime a band is compared to the Beatles, whether in terms of popularity or musical talents, you have to tread carefully. Yet that didn’t stop The Late Show with Stephen Colbert from giving BTS the full Beatle-mania treatment in 2019.
The Late Show is filmed at the Ed Sullivan Theater in New York City, named after Ed Sullivan, the host of The Ed Sullivan Show. Makes sense, right? It was in 1964 that the Beatles played three nights on The Ed Sullivan Show in what is considered a landmark pop culture moment.
Stephen Colbert, recognizing the popularity and fan hysteria surrounding the group, chose to honor that moment with this 2019 appearance by the K-pop superstars. The episode of The Late Show featured a two-minute opening in the style of The Ed Sullivan Show that introduced the band.
Check out this clip of the Beatles’ introduction and performance to get a side-by-side comparison of how Colbert and BTS channeled Ed Sullivan and the Beatles:
A performance like this can bring out critics, haters, and trolls pretty quickly. The idea was not to say that BTS are the Beatles. Instead, it was a fun way to recognize the incredible buzz around the band who, like the Beatles, were coming to American television from a different country. And let’s also not forget the over-the-top reaction from fans that both bands generated.