R.E.M.’s Michael Stipe made a pair of high-profile public appearances last night, first popping up on “The Colbert Report.” to sing the Christmas carol “Good King Wenceslas” with Stephen Colbert and Mandy Patinkin, then joining Coldplay’s Chris Martin to perform “Losing My Religion” at 12-12-12: The Concert for Sandy Relief.

Morrissey continued his American media tour Tuesday night, following up last week’s appearance on “Late Night With Jimmy Fallon” with a highly entertaining visit to “The Colbert Report,” during which Moz withstood ribbing from Stephen Colbert on topics such as the British monarchy, vegetarianism and, of course, The Smiths.

Morrissey today announced that he will wrap up one of his busier touring years in recent memory with six concerts in Australia and New Zealand this December immediately following the close of his 35-date U.S. tour — which also will find Moz appearing on “Late Night with Jimmy Fallon,” “Jimmy Kimmel Live!” and “The Colbert Report.”

Now that he’s unemployed, former R.E.M. frontman Michael Stipe has plenty of time on his hands, which might explain his drop-in at the end of Thursday night’s ‘The Colbert Report.’ Stephen Colbert paid fitting tribute to ‘legendary rockers The R.E.M.s,’ then permanently enshrined Stipe on his ‘rock ‘n’ roll shelf of fame.’

With his new album, ‘National Ransom,’ now out, Elvis Costello made the television rounds this past week, appearing and performing on the ‘Late Show With David Letterman,’ ‘The Colbert Report,’ ‘Late Night With Jimmy Fallon’ and even Joe Scarborough’s cable talk show ‘Morning Joe.’

In case you missed David Byrne’s apperance on “The Colbert Report” last night: The Colbert ReportMon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c David Byrne Pt. 1 […]