Radiohead Hits NYC

photo by Sebastian Edge

Radiohead‘s had a pretty quiet year, perhaps because of lackluster viral marketing and a relatively lukewarm reception for their latest record, The King of Limbs, but that didn’t stop the occasionally amusing Saturday Night Live to invite the band to play for the premiere of its 37th season. The guys got on stage and performed B-side “Staircase” and Limbs standout “Lotus Flower,” which was perhaps not what the mainstream crowd was expecting. Watch the latter below as Yorke (armed with maracas) breaks out his now-infamous dance routine.

The following Monday, the band went on Comedy Central satire/news show The Colbert Report for an hour special episode that was almost entirely about the band. Yorke & company seemed a lot less stiff on the Report, but maybe that’s because Stephen Colbert is so damn charismatic. Who else would open his interview with arguably the biggest band on the planet with, “Prepare yourselves, Radiohead. You’re about to meet Televisionface.” You can watch the entire episode here, and below catch a clip of the band performing “The National Anthem” (mislabeled “Codex”) in a somewhat more lively performance than their SNL appearance.