FUSE TV - Daft Punk Cancel 'Colbert' Appearance Over MTV VMAs Contract

Remember when Daft Punk were scheduled to perform their Random Access Memories mega-hit "Get Lucky" with Stephen Colbert on Tuesday night's episode of The Colbert Report, and everyone was all, "OMG, I can't wait"? Well, the Parisian robot duo's headlining appearance at the annual "Colbchella" was canned at the last minute due to contractual obligations with MTV's Video Music Awards. Oh, in related news: Surprise! Daft Punk are appearing at the VMAs!

But Colbert takes lemons and makes lemonade, dammit. So he danced to "Get Lucky" with random guests Hugh Laurie, Jeff Bridges, Bryan Cranston, Matt Damon and the Rockettes, and twirled onto the sets of Late Night With Jimmy Fallon, America's Got Talent and Charlie Rose. He even worked it all the way to Washington DC, where he got down in Henry Kissinger's office.

Later, another musical guest arrived to save the day: Robin Thicke, who was coincidentally sitting in the audience (wink, wink) and arose to deliver his summer hit "Blurred Lines." 

Which leads to a question: Is this Colbert salvaging Daft Punk's unfortunate cancelation in hilarious style, or an elaborate promo campaign for the VMAs? Or both? Consider this: The Colbert Report and MTV are both owned by the same parent company, Viacom. And while Daft Punk and Robin Thicke are signed to different labels (Sony and Universal, respectively), they have mutual friends (Pharrell, who sings on both "Get Lucky" and "Blurred Lines," but was absent Tuesday night on Colbert). And it's a little odd that Thicke, and his backup dancers and band, were able to pull it together for a live TV performance with just hours notice.

Something fishy is going on here. Colbert even says it himself: "This could not be a bigger disaster if someone had planned it... wait a minute... this is MTV Networks: I've been Daft Punk'd!?!?!" Cue Ashton Kutcher's entrance to seal the deal.

Watch the full episode and the star-studded "Get Lucky" dance segment below.