-Thanks for being here, Jake.
-Thanks for having me. -And thank you, as well.
After you saw Amanda, you ordered a drink, as well.
-I want booze, too. -All right, there you go.
It's right there. -Thank you.
Is this mine? -There you go.
And cheers. -Cheers.
-Thank you very much. -Thank you for having me.
-Oh, my God. I'm so happy.
[ Cheers and applause ]
We met briefly when you hosted --
You were a musical guest, excuse me, at "SNL" in 2004.
It was a fantastic performance. It was one of my favorite shows.
Hosted by Colin Farrell. Cameo by Lindsay Lohan.
-Memories. Memories. Look at those pants.
-Yeah. -Actually, this backless
woman's jump suit I was wearing
caused a lot of controversy at the time.
-Did it, really? -Yeah.
-What was the controversy? -I got a lot of hate mail.
-Really? -Yeah.
-I mean, I guess 2004, I would've thought people
were maybe a little more forward-thinking.
-Shoulderless, plunging neckline.
I mean, I don't know. But I have good memories.
-Good memories. And a lot happened.
You turned 40, you did a Broadway show,
solo album, and a memoir. -Yeah.
-"Boys Keep Swinging."
Why the title "Boys Keep Swinging"?
-David Bowie is my, like, number one.
You know, when I was growing up, he was just my absolute --
I discovered him when I was 8 years old.
And the album, "Lodger," that that song comes off of
is just one of my favorites.
And when he passed away, it was such a beautiful,
sad, and special week.
And I was just going --
Every night, I was going to Bowie parties and stuff.
And that song came on one night, and I was like,
"That's what I'm gonna call the book."
-It's such a fantastic song.
It's so anthemic, and you're obviously --
You had to go and revisit a time.
You separate the book into three sections.
You have Scissor Sisters,
you have youth, and you have New York.
You lived in New York -- When did you move here?
-I moved here in 1999.
And, yeah, it was a very different time than it is now.
You know, I was living in a --
Basically in a place that was like a --
It was on South 1st street in Williamsburg,
and it was like...
It rained and my room. It was like this raw loft.
There was basically a toilet, like, next to the kitchen.
It was just like --
-I think you said it all when it rained in your room.
I think you've painted a picture of New York real estate
we can all appreciate.
-It seeped down the walls.
-And you -- Obviously, you are a musician,
but you were also a go-go dancer.
That was one of the ways you made ends meet.
-Yeah. That's how I started performing.
-Yeah, give it up for go-go dancing.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-It was so much fun. I mean, I loved the attention,
I loved getting up on, you know, up in a bar
and taking my clothes off and having fun.
[ Laughter ]
I would just get --
I would have the time of my life.
And then, I realized, like, "Oh, this is kind of
getting boring." Like, "What else can I do?"
And then, I was like, "Should I be a singing go-go dancer?"
And that's how I started making music.
-It's fantastic. I will say, and I'm not just saying this.
We talked for weeks about how much fun
you seemed to be having on stage when you performed at "SNL"
because you dance with such incredible joy.
So I'm not surprised to hear that that was something
that you had done for years and years.
-Yeah, it's being on stage and, like, just boogying.
I mean, I love that what I do as a job
is, basically, like --
If I did what I do, like, out in the street,
I'd get arrested or something. -Sure.
-Like, it's just -- It's like I get to basically
act like a completely insane person.
-You -- And you've taken a lot.
You've put a lot of your costumes on stage.
Not just in our "SNL" costume,
but here are some that you've actually worn on stage.
You want to tell me some of your favorites there?
-This is my all-time favorite. This was like a woman's
Vivienne Westwood pair of, like, shorts that I found.
That was a tablecloth that I got from catering.
We were in Scotland, and I was gonna wear something else,
and I just pulled that tablecloth off.
This was a Glastonbury outfit that was knit
that started falling off my body while I was performing.
Like, it just started unraveling.
-Yeah. -Yeah.
-Well, they always say that's the risk.
[ Laughter ]
You -- You know, I assume you've had many things
that happened in your career
that make you want to pinch yourself
and you can't believe they're happening to you.
Cher tracked you down.
-Cher tracked me down, yeah, on a --
-How did Cher track you down?
-On Twitter. -Okay.
-I was having, like, a really gnarly day,
and I was flipping through Twitter.
And, you know, she writes in all caps sometimes.
-Yeah. -So there was -- I just --
I was just flipping through the 2,000 people
I follow or whatever, and just saw like all caps.
And so you stop when you see Cher writing.
You know, I'm just like, "Oh, it's Cher."
And then, she said, "Jake,
I've been searching for your number,
and I can't find it anywhere. Please get ahold of me."
And I was like, I wrote Twitter back, actually,
and I was like, "Is she talking to me?"
[ Laughter ]
And the consensus was that she was,
and we were on the phone like two hours later,
and then, I recorded --
I sang on one of her singles the next day.
-That's incredible. -It was a good memory.
It was a good memory. Lot of fun.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-You got to -- You got to meet Elton John.
-Yeah, like, good friends.
We've written tons of stuff together.
I mean, I've -- Over the years, you know,
I get to be on stage with John sometimes
and Queens of the Stone Age. -There you go.
[ Cheers and applause ]
-Which is -- I mean, Queens of the Stone Age
is one of my favorite, favorite,
favorite, favorite, favorite bands of all time.
And just getting to sing with them sometimes
and performing with them is just like, you know,
just one of the highlights of my life.
-But, yeah, I get to do all this awesome --
I mean, it's a pretty fun life I get to lead.
-Was that your takeaway? I mean, I'm always --
You know, again, because you've written a memoir.
You know, you're not -- Obviously, you're only 40,
but you've lived a lot of life in those 40 years.
-I'll say. -When you finished this --
I mean, did you have a sense of that?
When you finished it, were you like,
"Man, I've gotten a lot done"?
-Well, I realized what a whore I've been.
-Okay. [ Laughter ]
-Over all the years, because you don't --
you really, you don't --
And I mean that in the best way.
You don't really -- I don't know if I can say that on TV, but...
-You said it in the book, so, yeah.
-You know, you think you're fine,
and you think you've lived this like, normal life,
and then, you get it all down on paper,
and you're like, "Wow, I've slept with a lot of people."
-Yeah. [ Laughter ]
Even just when you do an index,
you're like, "This is a lot of names."
-A lot of thank-yous.
There's a lot of thank-yous in the back.
[ Laughter ]
-Well, I'm sure they all thank you, as well.
And let me follow by thanking you for being here.