The guitarist G.E. Smith, who lives in Amagansett, will return to Guild Hall in East Hampton on Saturday at 8 p.m., bringing with him two fellow travelers of the edgy and envelope-pushing world of late-night television.
For 10 years, Mr. Smith, who has toured the world with artists including Bob Dylan and Hall and Oates, was the bandleader on “Saturday Night Live,” which is celebrating its 50th anniversary this year. Joining him in the latest edition of “G.E. Smith’s Portraits” will be Louis Cato, the multi-instrumentalist and since 2022 the bandleader for “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” on CBS, and Paul Shaffer, who served as David Letterman’s bandleader for 33 years, first on “Late Night With David Letterman,” on NBC from 1982 to 1993, and from 1993 until 2015 on “The Late Show With David Letterman” on CBS.
The musicians will perform a blend of musical genres and tell stories of their adventures in late-night television, a unique forum in which the bandleader must interact with the show’s host as well as the audience.
For Mr. Smith, performing on live television was a most rewarding challenge. Of the skits that make up an episode on “Saturday Night Live,” “they basically knew how long they were going to be,” he said, “but they might come up 10, 18, 20 seconds short, and now they’ve got 20 seconds before the commercial. I would get the word in my earpiece — ‘Hit it!’ — and we’d play. That’s what the TV audience would see, but we’d keep playing in the studio for the 150 people in the seats.”
“Television, especially back then, was the most powerful thing going in the U.S.A. for getting your face out there,” he said. “I was very fortunate and got to be pretty well known. I’m very appreciative for the 10 years that I got to do all that.”
Mr. Cato, a performing musician, songwriter, and producer who last month issued a single, “Black Man Blues,” is a relative newcomer to the late-night television format. “It calls on you to be present in a more open way, which is a challenge,” he told The Star. “Staying connected to the host, that’s job number one. Staying connected to the camera is number two, and being chief sounding board, if you will. But equally as important is keeping the in-house audience engaged, because that’s such a part of the live-to-tape show that we do. The energy in the room affects the energy at home. It’s a little bit of a juggling act, but I challenge myself to stay open and present both with the host and with our audience.”
Mr. Smith met Mr. Shaffer, himself a veteran of “Saturday Night Live,” in the late 1970s, soon after he moved to New York City, when both were part of “Gilda Radner — Live From New York,” the “SNL” cast member’s show at Manhattan’s Winter Garden Theatre. “I was playing a number of roles, was also playing in the band, and had written a lot of the material with Gilda,” Mr. Shaffer remembered. “We auditioned people we knew, studio musicians and stuff, and G.E. came in to audition. He blew us all away for so many reasons — his excellence in musicianship, and just his overall style. He was so far ahead of all of us stylistically.”
“I spent a lot of time in Canada playing in nightclubs and bars,” Mr. Shaffer recalled of the experiences that would inform his approach to late-night television. “I was in the pre-D.J. era. There were live bands in all these different lounges and things. When I got the job with Dave, that’s all I had to relate to. I was inspired by an organ trio I used to see in the Zanzibar Club in Toronto, and although I didn’t play in that club six nights a week, I did in many clubs. I said, ‘It’s late night, I’ll make it as if it’s a lounge group, organ-based, sort of like they had in Zanzibar.’ “
He had just spent five years on “SNL” “trying to get on camera any way I could,” he said. “Here I was going to have another opportunity, however it wasn’t built into the structure of the show at all.” Mr. Letterman “was always going to do his monologue and would introduce me and the band, but then he’d go on with the show. I had to grab the opportunity and just start talking to him. The first time I did it, it surprised him, but he got a kick out of it, and he was so encouraging and said, ‘Do more of that,’ which gave me a kind of confidence that I could improvise with him every night in a way I couldn’t do anywhere else. That’s how supportive he was of me in that job. My job, of course, was to support him, but I would get a few licks in, too.”
Mr. Cato and Mr. Smith first performed together at a private event in East Hampton last summer. “I had a grand old time,” Mr. Cato said. Mr. Smith “seems like a wonderful human being, really grounded, really professional, with a wealth of stories and experience, and guitar wizardry. And I’ve gotten to know Paul over the last few years as well. Paul came to visit the show some years ago, and since then we’ve gotten to interact and play together a few times.”
Both Mr. Smith and Mr. Shaffer marvel at Mr. Cato’s talent, including his vocal prowess. “I got to play with him once,” Mr. Shaffer said. “I can see he can do everything, and he can sing — especially the singing, you can’t teach that.”
Mr. Smith has asked his guests to suggest five or six songs for the musicians to play, adding a couple of his own ideas. As the “Portraits” series includes discussion as well as music, “I’ll be having a conversation with Paul and Louis,” he said, “which I’m sure will be easy because both are very smart and funny guys as well as being giant musical talents.”
Mr. Cato confided that some of his own music will be featured, including “Black Man Blues.” “We’re going to flip that on its head a bit,” he said.
“G.E. leaves it loose,” Mr. Shaffer said. “We’re going to discuss things, and play things, and illustrate with song. Other than that, it’s all up for grabs, and it’s going to be really fun for that reason.”
“This,” Mr. Smith agreed, “is really going to be fun.”
“G.E. Smith’s Portraits” is produced by Taylor Barton. Tickets range from $25 to $125 plus a convenience fee and are available at guildhall.org.
Another edition of the show happens on Aug. 23 at Guild Hall and will feature Jimmy Vivino, Simon Kirke, and guests.
