Late-night said goodbye to a late, great legend Thursday.
Hours after Prince passed away at age 57, James Corden, Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah paid their respects via The Late Late Show, The Late Show and The Daily Show, respectively.
Corden had already wrapped filming with The Huntsman: Winter's War stars Jessica Chastain, Chris Hemsworth and Charlize Theron when he received word that Prince had died. "It didn't feel right to me to start and entertainment show without coming back down here and turning the lights on and saying something about him before we begin," he said. "I don't even know where to start when I talk about Prince as an artist, because to be unique in this world is impossible. Like almost all art is taken or borrowed from somewhere else, and artist like Prince stands alone. He is completely original."
"I was lucky enough to see him live many times," the British host continued. "I saw him in stadiums and arenas, and I saw him in quite a few smaller venues, too. 'Cause whenever he'd play a big show in London, he'd often announce form the stage that he was going to play another show later on that night somewhere across town. It was so exciting. You'd rush across and you'd try to get in. And at times like this it's easy to feel incredibly sad. But I feel like today is about celebrating the incredible life that he led and the brilliant songs that he gave us."
"I'm going to miss not being able to hear his new music and I'm going to miss not being able to see him live again, but I will always cherish the fact that I got to be in his audience, just to be in his orbit for just those few nights. What a thing to have been a live when Prince was making music. We are all incredibly lucky. We will miss you Prince," he said. "You are truly one of a kind." Corden ended his tribute by quoting lyrics from Prince's "Sometimes in Snows in April," saying, "Sometimes I wish life was never-ending, but all good things they say, never last."
Meanwhile, Colbert addressed Prince's passing during his monologue. "Today the world lost a great artist. Prince passed away today at his home in Minnesota. I know. It's shocking and sad news. I have been a fan since I was in high school," he said. "I remember a guy in my choir, Skipper Graham, brought in the very first Prince album into our choir room. There were so many things to love about it. One of the things, obviously, was the music was so powerful, and also we had to wear the headphones so the adults could not hear the lyrics to any of his songs."
"As sad as I am," Colbert added, "I was just a fan."
Colbert then let his band leader, Jon Batiste, share a few words, as had been friendly with Prince. "He had a huge aura. His energy and presence in the room kind of filled everybody's hearts," Batiste remembered. "He had a certain kind of way of knowing what was going on."
"Besides being a beautiful artist, not many people are as influential enough to be known by one name, let alone by one color. But he was," Colbert said. "So in a small gesture of respect tonight we'd like to change the set in his honor." The audience cheered as the lights changed to purple. Later on, Colbert's guest, Tom Hanks, shared his first memories of Prince. "It's a tough day. I'm going to be 60 this summer. Sixty is the new 58. I don't know if anybody has told you that. But I saw Prince on either Don Kirshner's Rock Concert or the Midnight Special. Remember those horrible music shows? He was a young guy and I just said, 'Who is this grand funkmister that's going to take us to the revolution?'" he recalled. "I'm sitting in my dad and my stepmother's house and I'm just trying to stay up late because that's the only truly controversial thing I can do because I'm such a pussy, you know? 'I'm staying up 'til 1:30 tonight and I don't care who knows!'"
Jokes aside, Hanks always knew Prince was special. "It's not often that you watch TV and you think, 'this is a brand new thing.' Because he was really funky in the late '70s. am I wrong? It was like, 'Finally! Someone has cracked Rick James' code.' He took it and elevated it. That was just the beginning of decades. Now he's gone and God bless him. We're going to miss him."
Noah mentioned Prince at the end of his program. "Today, as you all know, we lost more than just a man. We lost an icon. We lost a leader. We lost in many aspects a genre in itself. Prince, we'll always remember. We will always love you. Your music changed our lives and I think it will continue to do that," he said. "Today we would like to dedicate our Zen to you." The Daily Show ended with footage of Prince performing an acoustic version of "Reflection" from MTV Unplugged.