Legendary singer-songwriter stages increasingly rare performance for John Mulaney’s Netflix show
Randy Newman returned to late-night television with a performance of his 1972 song “Political Science” on Everybody’s Live With John Mulaney.
The legendary singer-songwriter also played a rendition of his oft-covered “I Think It’s Going to Rain Today” on the Netflix show, Newman’s first late-night performance since a Covid-era virtual performance on The Tonight Show in June 2020 and his first onstage performance in over two years.
Since the pandemic, Newman has only appeared onstage on less than a handful of times, including a Newport Folk pop-up show in July 2021 and a New Orleans Jazz Fest set in May 2022.
However, the 81-year-old singer’s legacy continues to be felt across the music industry, notably at the 2025 Grammy Awards, where an all-star lineup of artists — including Brad Paisley, Sheryl Crow, Dawes, St. Vincent and Brittany Howard — performed his classic “I Love L.A.” to open the ceremony, a rendition that was a tribute to the city following the massive wildfires earlier this year; Newman did not take part in that performance.
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Given the current administration, “Political Science” was a fitting choice for Newman’s return, as its a satirical song that poked fun at America’s foreign policy at the time it was written. Newman previously played the song on late-night during the George W. Bush administration in 2006, performing it on The Colbert Report.
Wednesday’s episode of Everybody’s Live also featured guests David Letterman, Nikki Glaser, Hannibal Buress, “the thing that lives behind the dumpster in Mulholland Drive,” and a surprise cameo by Jimmy Kimmel, who appeared onstage as an officially 6-foot-tall person:
