Jay Leno’s audience laughed as Mathews befriended some of the biggest names in Hollywood at star-studded events, and soon Mathews grew an audience of his own. He now is set to debut a new talk-show on E!, and is making the media rounds to promote his new book, “Man Up! Tales of My Delusional Self-Confidence.” His success can be attributed to not just Leno’s confidence in him, but also that of comedian Chelsea Handler.

“Most comics are kind of insecure,” explained Mathews. “So I’ve been luck with not only Jay Leno of course, but now people are seeing with Chelsea like, everyone can win. That’s something she says all the time. There’s room for everybody. When she’s gone, she lets me guest host her show.”

But the entertainer said that while Handler has a sweet side, she ultimately isn’t that different from what her audience sees on TV nightly.

“She’s exactly the same,” he said. “She is biting, and hilarious.”

Handler recognized Mathews rising star by offering him both the opportunity to write this book and shoot a pilot for the aforementioned talk show. His program will debut this fall.

“’Man Up!’ I define as this: yunno you are what you are what you are, and you have to celebrate what makes you different,” he said. “I think you have to use what makes you different to stand out… because that’s when things really happen.”

Mathews cautions that while his tale is one of a small-town boy who grew up on a farm and is gay, the moral of the story doesn’t concern your sexual orientation. But, when you look back at where entertainment was 12 years ago when Mathews first entered our TV sets, it is almost unfathomable.

“This is before ‘Will and Grace,’ before ‘Queer Eye for the Straight Guy,’” recalls Mathews. “I remember being a kid and not knowing what a happy, successful, grown-up, gay person looked like.”

Now, all someone has to do is look at Mathews to see how one fits that description.

A new group of musicians will back Gomez on her upcoming tour; one of a few changes to her stage show.

“I wanted to get in to more performing than anything,” she elaborated. “I’ve tried to get better at dancing and getting more about the entertainment aspect of it, as opposed to more of just me and the band.”

Gomez’s “Stars Dance Tour 2013” kicks off August 14 in Canada. The trek will support her first solo album, due out this summer. The first single is “Come and Get It,” a catchy, mid-tempo song that sounds as if Rihanna could have sang it. Ester Dean, a frequent collaborator to RiRi, Katy Perry, and other pop stars, has a writing credit on the track.

“All artists inspire me, including her,” Gomez said of the Barbados-born singer. “That’s the best part of what I do. I get inspired by musicians that are older than me because I’m still kind of up-and-coming and figuring out what I want to do.”

Taylor Swift and Demi Lovato, two of Gomez’s friends, also inspire the artist, seemingly in more ways than one.

“I think what’s specific about those two individually is they represent the confidence of each things that they’ve gone through,” said Gomez, alluding to Swift’s relationships and Lovato’s stint in rehab. “I appreciate the fact that even as my friends, they’re able to share the things that they’ve gone through.”

So will Gomez take a cue from either on her next album? It doesn’t seem likely.

“It’s harder for me to do that because I tend to clam up about certain things, and I think it’s just because I’m a super private person,” Gomez explained. “But, there is a song on this record that was really personal to me.”

Trying to maintain her privacy in the spotlight is something the actress struggles with; Gomez admitted to me that she deals with anxiety over some of the headlines and hounding photographers.

“It’s never going to change,” she stated. “So even if I were to sit here right now and tell you guys everything that I’m going through, the media would twist it in some way, or they would make up a completely different story.”

Presumably, this is the reason why Gomez wouldn’t speak about Justin Bieber during our interview. The singer told me the coverage ultimately forced her to put “a guard up.”

“I think I can count on one hand the number of times I’ve played a show by myself,” Bareilles told “The Ralphie Show” during an in-studio visit. “And I think I hide behind (the band) in a lot of ways, so it’s very raw.”

The California-born songstress admitted she’s worried.

“I don’t really know how to prepare for this, but there’s a part of that that’s actually really exciting to me,” she elaborated. “It’s gonna be a communion with the audience.”

Bareilles is flying solo again in more than one way. She says that she “recently out of a long relationship” and separated from her band mates, permanently. Her former band includes now ex-boyfriend Javier Dunn.

“All of these splits were really amicable and really loving but just feeling like I needed to move in to some new directions,” she explained. “It’s been a really introspective year from me. A lot of heart break, and heart ache but I feel a lot of expansion.”

This is ironic, because she surely doesn’t have the square footage in lower Manhattan that she had back in California. Even if she does, Bareilles noted that everyone is “on top of each other” in New York. She doesn’t seem to mind.

“There’s something about the energy here,” the singer observed. “I’ve just been super-inspired by literally just walking the streets and seeing graffiti and then hearing music pour out of the windows.”

Bareilles fell in love with the city last fall while working on her forthcoming LP, The Blessed Unrest, due out this July. It spawned the appropriately-titled first single, “Brave,” which Sara worked on with fun.’s Jack Antonoff. She eventually moved to Manhattan in January, and the drastic climate change was a bit of a culture shock to her.

“I don’t know if you guys are aware, but it’s quite cold here in January,” she joked. “There were some brutal days. I’m used to 70 degrees and sunny all the time. So when I’m crying (while) walking down the street carrying my laundry, I’m like, ‘What am I doing here?’”

Yes, I followed up on this, and Bareilles does in fact carry her laundry to and from her apartment. She drops it off at a wash-and-fold, but still, her modesty and girl-next-door persona have not vanished through all of this change. Nor has her sailor’s mouth.

“I even tweeted, ‘The subway’s my b-tch!’” recalled Bareilles, shortly before she would go on to miss her stop and end up lost. “I have no idea where I was about to end up.”

She could probably say the same for other aspects of her life. And like she’s doing with her music, and her personal life, she figured it out, and moved on.

“We have some ideas,” Sonenclar revealed. “I’ve never worked on anything like this before. It’s really fun.”

The set-list will include covers she’s performed on both the TV show and her YouTube account. The artist thinks there might be room to perform one original song. Sonenclar is currently in “pre-production on her first solo album with Simon Cowell’s SYCO Music. After informing Carly Rose that her fans, aptly named “Carly’s Angels” aren’t too thrilled with that term, she explained exactly what it entails.

“Basically, it’s just the early stages,” Sonenclar responded, referring to the album creation process. “It’s going to require patience, and for me as well. I’m going continue to be putting covers out on YouTube and I have the show coming up, but like as far as the album goes, it might be a little bit longer.”

As surreal as it was for a 14 year-old to preach about patience, Sonenclar showed her maturity even more in explaining why she isn’t in a rush to release new material.

“I want to be an artist that’s here for the long-run, not someone who puts out an album tomorrow and then by the time the next run of ‘The X-Factor’ comes around people are forgetting about me,” she explained. “I’d rather, yunno, if it takes waiting a little bit longer so that in the end, I stay in the music business for longer, then that’s what I’m going to do.”

When we were first introduced to Carly Rose on national TV, judge L.A. Reid referred to her as, “an old soul.” Apparently that characterization extends beyond her vocal range.
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More info on the all ages show is available here. A portion of the proceeds will benefit the Starlight Children’s Foundation.

Klum was married to a singer – Seal – for eight years, but also has a little bit of a performance background herself. Before coming to America, the “Project Runway” star danced professionally in Germany.

“When I came here, I found out that I wasn’t that good,” Klum joked. “In Germany I was good, here I was not good.”

While she has no problem taking a light-hearted jab at herself, she has found it difficult at times on set to turn contestants away.

“It’s hard to crush someone feelings, especially when we’re crunched on time,” she said. “I want to say more to send them away, and sometimes you have to be really quick, and then it hurts my feelings to hurt someone else’s feelings.”

Despite the acclimation period for Klum to judging a talent competition, she insists that she hasn’t asked for help or relied on the other judges. Once auditions are over, the judges will return to New York, a place that Klum knows all too well, having lived in the city for thirteen years as a model. But the judge was adamant that she won’t be able to hit up any of her favorite spots around town.

“I’m going to bed, because I’m doing this all again tomorrow,” said Klum of her work day, which can run from 5 am to 9 pm. “A girl needs her beauty rest.”

“America’s Got Talent” premieres June 4 on NBC.

The new home to the program is also across from Stern’s studios for his morning show on Sirius/XM. The “shock jock” lived up to his moniker towards the end of our chat.

“Yunno, about a year ago I suggested (NBC) get rid of Ann Curry,” Stern joked… we think. “The ratings weren’t good. I called them up and I said, ‘Get her out.’ Everyone’s blaming Matt, everyone’s blaming NBC. I take the full hit for it.”

Not surprisingly, Stern went on to also take credit for the network announcing that Jimmy Fallon would replace Jay Leno next spring. The radio DJ and TV host have been at odds for years; Stern has accused Leno of ripping off jokes and bits from him and other comedians.

Back to “AGT,” – there are also personnel changes on that show as well. Sharon Osbourne will not return this year. Joining Stern and Howie Mandel at the judges table will be singer Melanie Brown and model Heidi Klum.

“I’ve known Heidi for many years,” Mel B. told me. “She’s a great person; very passionate, gorgeous, she’s a mom. So, we have a lot in common.”

Like her fellow judges, Brown thinks Radio City will add a lot to the show.

“You can’t pick a better place,” the artist once known as “Scary Spice” said. “That is New York. I’m very excited.”

Brown also commented on Little Mix, a group of girls from the UK who won “The X-Factor” and are drawing comparisons to the Spice Girls.

“I think there’s room for everybody,” she said. “I don’t even think you need to compare. I think they’re in their own lane and they’re doing their thing. I’ve seen them perform and I think they’re brilliant.”

Klum will talk about the show this Thursday (April 11) on “The Ralphie Show.” Nick Cannon, who was at the media opportunity but offered a limited amount of interviews, will return to host the competition. The new season of “America’s Got Talent” premieres June 4 on NBC.

Despite Tedder describing himself as “not a card-carrying electronic music fan,” the experienced directly inspired the single, “If I Lose Myself,” along with the general tempo of Native.

“We’re not going to all of the sudden; three years after the fact jump ship and be like, ‘Oh! This is popular now. Let’s go do this!’” he explained. “That’s lame. You’ve got a handful of bands who did jump ship and just went pure electronic… and we’re the furthest from that. And then you’ve have other acts who kind of batted around with electronic; tried to do like a “dance” record and it kind of missed the mark. So we were like, ‘Let’s do it. Let’s hit the nail on the head. And let’s capture that energy but still keep it sounding organic and like a band.’”

OneRepublic also decided to keep two tracks at the last minute – songs that Tedder almost gave away to other artists.

“We had a close call on this record. There was song that we were all really in love with,” revealed guitarist Drew Brown. “We went through a phase of feeling like it wasn’t going to fit with the rest of the continuity of the record. In the last hours of putting the record together there was a big ‘come-to-Jesus’ about like, ‘We absolutely can’t get rid of this song. We have to put it on the record.’”

The band called in Jeff Bhasker, who worked on the latest masterpieces for fun. and Kanye West, to finish the track. “Can’t Stop” made the album, due out March 26.

Phillips went on to win the 12th season of “American Idol,” release a single that has sold over three million copies, and drop an album that is on the verge of going platinum. But perhaps most importantly, the stories that Phillips shares through his music are now helping people cope with problems in all corners of the world. In Allentown, the Iraqi vet is thankful for Phillips’ new album The World From the Side of the Moon, specifically the next single, “Gone, Gone, Gone.”

“This past weekend I had some pretty horrible nightmares stemming from my service overseas,” explained Harris on “The Ralphie Show” via telephone while Phillips sat in studio and listened. “I really needed something to calm me down.”

Not able to sleep, Harris reached for his iPad and cued up the track.

“Something about the lyrics in that song… I heard things differently that time and it finally put me at peace,” he said. “I wanted to thank you Phillip for the amazing things that you’re doing. It’s been a long time since a story-teller has come along who really conveys that emotion in his music.”

Phillips, normally reserved and low-key, seemed to be at an even greater loss for words, yet was compelled by Harris’ story to respond.

“Yunno, music affects me in a lot of ways; it’s very therapeutic for me and then once you share it with people in the world you hear so many stories come out of it,” he said. “I respect you a lot Max for what you’ve done. You’re more of a man than I am.”

From hospital visits to family members making headlines, Phillips’ ride to success since “Idol” has been far from smooth. Yet moments like this help him to put things in perspective.

“It’s a little nerve wracking when you (share your music) because… that’s a big story,” said Phillips after we hung up with Harris. “I don’t know if you’ll ever overcome that because it’s always just so new.”

Lochte said even when he travels, he seeks out a pool for training sessions, and that Saturday in Santa Monica was no different. Surprisingly, the swimmer said it took time to become acclimated with the cameras filming his every move.

“I was a little shy,” he admitted. “But now, I just go with the punches. I’m just rolling with it.”

We would expect nothing less.

“It’s just one of those things (where) you roll with the punches and kind of go with the flow,” said Levine of how he’s handling his new schedule. “You have to match the energy of the moment.”

That isn’t always easy for the singer.

“It’s not as tough when were on the road, actually,” Levine explained. “Once you’re on the road, you have a singular purpose: you want the show to be really great, and that’s your job. When you get home and you’re not on tour, then all of the other peripheral things start to kind of take over.”

The aforementioned new fragrance line is one of those peripheral things, and Adam has been flying coast-to-coast to promote the new product with Macy’s.

“It’s good to keep people guessing, right?” Levine responded when asked why he decided to launch a line of cologne and perfume. “I think that it hasn’t been done particularly well, so there’s a negative stigma attached to it.”

The singer is quick to point out that on Twitter, he didn’t do anything at first to help said stigma. But Levine then reasoned with a line of thought that Maroon 5 adopted on its last album, Overexposed.

“You can just hate something, which is one way of dealing with it, or you can take an opportunity that falls in to your lap, and use it to make something good,” he said. “I will not sit here and tell you that I don’t love to make money because I do love to make money. However, that’s not the only reason why I’m doing a lot of these things.”

“I think if anything, we would have to worry about (the release date) getting pushed forward,” revealed Wentz of the current slated target of May 7. “I’ve heard that discussion, but I don’t know.”

Typically the only time an album release is pushed forward is if the lead single takes off on the charts and the LP will fall in front of some type of tour. Fall Out Boy will hit the road for 33 shows starting May 14. Right now, “My Songs Know What You Did In The Dark (Light Em Up)” had a solid debut on the Billboard Hot 100, landing at 26. The video features rapper 2 Chainz in the role of an arsonist. I asked Wentz why he chose the hip hop artist.

“That’s exactly why,” replied Wentz, insinuating that the band simply wanted to get people asking questions, not exactly a foreign idea to FOB’s game plan. “Hopefully we’ll have something else down the road.”

That “something else” is a possible remix to “My Songs Know,” a collaboration that Wentz admitted he is holding his breath for.

Fall Out Boy fans were holding their breath that the band would return from its self-described hiatus to release new music and tour. While it seems everyone in the group agrees that the break was necessary, at least one member could have continued to play: drummer Andy Hurley.

“I think there was an oversaturation and I think people needed to decompress from years of touring and stuff,” Hurley noted.

“I mean, it ended up being a super healthy thing for all of us personally and for the band too,” Wentz added.

The “Survivor” host feels confident with the product he’s put forth thus far.

“I love the show we put on,” he said of “The Jeff Probst Show.” “People have been very positive but the only thing that matters are ratings.”

Probst told me that the transition to daytime has been “a rollercoaster” at times but that he’s found his way, and is ready to bring on a co-host. He’s looking for a permanent seat holder, to offer a “Regis and Kathy” feel that he was comfortable with as a guest host.

Meanwhile, he’ll continue to fly solo as the anchor of “Survivor.” The reality show enters its 26th season tonight with “Survivor: Caramoan – Fans vs. Favorites.”

“I did for years wonder, ‘Will we be back next year?’” admitted Probst, who notes that he’s now well-past that. “Now I realize, 13 years in, that it will come to an end at some point, but I don’t worry about when that is now.”

Probst credits that with the show’s “incredibly loyal audience” – because after all, in the end it boils down to ratings.

“The place went ballistic,” McIntyre recalled. “When you see it and you witness it, you’re like, ‘We gotta do this again.’”

The boys from Boston would then link up with 98 Degrees at the Summer Mix Tape Fest in Hershey, PA this past summer. Added dates to the tour include Brooklyn’s Barclays Center, second dates in Uncasville, CT and Beantown, and Toronto’s Air Canada Centre.

Yes, the lead singer had no idea that the superstar songstress would end her set with a track that he composed.

“That was the best feeling,” he said. “What’s funny is, five seconds after it happened, I got a text from Max Martin.”

Tedder dubs Martin, “the greatest living songwriter/producer in the world,” and you’d be tough-pressed to argue against that title with a look at the Billboard charts over the past 15 years.

“I got a text from him saying, ‘Congrats on ‘Halo,’’” continued the singer. “This moment just got better, I’m sitting here watching this, and now Max Martin texted me.”

The next day, Tedder recorded the final pieces of Native. Now that the master is turned in (he beat the deadline by 10 minutes), fans of OneRepublic have an official, and final, release date of March 26.

“It was originally November,” said Tedder of the first target release date for the LP. “To be dead honest, we couldn’t finish the songs in time.”

The band now shifts in to promo-mode for the album, but not before a trip to Dubai this week. The band will also hit Europe before touring in the States this summer.

The Wanted’s Siva Kaneswaran interjected rather quickly after hearing the question about Lohan, telling George, “I don’t think you’re going to have a choice.”

George has become the de-facto front-man for the faction since his relationship to Lohan entered the headlines. The two insist they’re not dating.

“I’m not spilling any beans!” George replied when I asked what trouble his band-mates are getting in to, considering he takes the majority of the heat for the group. “Unless there’s a camera in my bedroom, then you might see.”

The TV show will follow the guys’ personal lives and in to the studio, where The Wanted will record its first worldwide, full-length album.

“We’ve been writing this album for two years because we didn’t put an album out last year,” George explained. “’All Time Low’ was our first single in the UK, and it’s one that we love.”

The track serves as the next American-released song for the boy band. George said the band moves in to their new digs in about two weeks, with the premiere of the show set for this June.

In addition to the original song, Harris did remix Florence + The Machine’s “Spectrum (Say My Name).” Welch admitted that she’s “in to the euphoria of dance music,” and with “Sweet Nothing” now climbing up the radio airplay charts, perhaps this is the start of her becoming more comfortable with revealing her emotions in music to an even larger audience.

Dr. Drew notes that humans, and particularly males, operate off of an arousal system until age 25, and are thus “prone to use substances.” The “Celebrity Rehab” doctor doesn’t believe there is an addiction issue at hand, although he’s seen plenty of said issues in Hollywood.

“The rest of us would have family and lawyers that pull us aside and say, ‘Hey, get it together dude! You’re going to lose your job; we’re going to kick you out of the house,’” he said. “Celebrities don’t have that. They have people going, ‘Good! Well done!’”

The doctor said he looks not so much at the use, but the consequences – specifically citing Lohan’s trials and tribulations. In that context, it seems Bieber is many family blow-ups and court proceedings away from anything that might raise a flag in Dr. Drew’s eyes.

“Most of it was written in New York,” Rzeznik said of the album, due out May 7. “The energy was just fantastic there; I’d never done anything like that before.”

It’s almost hard to believe that a 27 year-old band with over 10 million albums sold worldwide is still experiencing new things in the studio. Here’s something even more surprising: that same band has actually shared a stage with pop singer Ke$ha, twice. The last time was earlier in the year during the Creative Coalition’s 2013 Inaugural Ball in Washington D.C.

“I was saying to myself, ‘Do I really have to go on stage after that?’” Rzeznik recalled after witnessing the “TiK ToK” singer perform. “There’s like 20 people on stage; everybody’s dancing around, playing tubas and stuff, and you’re like, ‘What am I gonna do?’”

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“I saw (Harry) in LA about three months ago,” recalled Sheeran. “He had a day off and he went out… and spent like two or three grand on Domino’s Pizzas and drove around for the whole day just giving it to homeless people.”

“The A Team” singer said this wasn’t a first-time occurrence.

“People write about Harry all the time in a negative way with all his love life and stuff like that but like, he does stuff like that a lot,” he continued. “I think it’d be nice to get out there that he’s a pretty genuine dude.”

In an interview with Capital FM overseas, Sheeran noted that of all the One Direction fellas, he’s the closest with Styles. He elaborated on “The Ralphie Show.”

“The strangest thing about Harry is that he lived on my flat for a while but like, he had two houses,” Sheeran said. “He had two, very plush houses in London and he’d just come and stay.”

As for why he would crash with the singer/songwriter instead of shack up in one of his own pads, Sheeran believes it’s because Styles would rather hang with friends than in a huge house alone.

With both of their schedules, it’s surprising either of the artists is in the same place for an extended period of time. Sheeran is enjoying quite the ride with the success of “A Team,” – culminating with a Grammy nomination for “Song of the Year” and a performance at the awards show with Sir Elton John.

“I got a call from Elton being like, ‘I couldn’t get you a solo slot, but would you mind playing with me?’” he said. “You can’t really say anything other than, ‘Yes, please!’”

The combination of the hit record with his down-to-earth persona and his links to Swift and One Direction have propelled Sheeran to other big spots as well. During this particular trip to New York, the Englishman was gearing up to play a sold-out Radio City Music Hall and perform at NBC’s “Today.” His fans, which refer to Sheeran as “Ginger Jesus” and call themselves “Sheerios,” couldn’t be happier.

“(‘Ginger Jesus’) gives me reminiscence of The Beatles, and I’m just staying the hell away from that.”

“Even my mates were going like, ‘What, you got Flo Rida on your song? You sure?’” recalled Murs. “I think it’s because of my style and my music.”

What makes the foreign view on the mix of genres even more puzzling is that Murs is already an established powerhouse overseas. He scored three double-platinum albums in the UK; the latest called Right Place Right Time, which features “Troublemaker.” He is now trying to emulate that success across the pond. Murs’ new LP is slated for an April release in America on Columbia Records. He could only hope to achieve the success of his labelmates, One Direction.

“They’re on a different world,” observed Murs of 1D’s stardom in the U.S. and beyond. “There are certain artists; the demand for them is so high. You’re talking the Britney Spears’, the Lady GaGa’s, the Rihanna’s, One Direction in that category.”

Of course with the fame comes the scrutiny of the media, and One Direction found them under the microscope throughout the band’s last visit to New York.

“It must just get to the point where everywhere you go, you just get used to seeing a picture in the press,” Murs said. “It must be so frustrating for the guys. When I see the guys I don’t really talk about it because obviously yunno, it’s something you don’t bring up in conversation. But, they must get really cheesed off.”

Coverage of the fellas reached a fever point last December when Harry Styles was spotted out and about in New York with Taylor Swift. The two have since called it quits, and when asked who might be a good replacement to Spears or L.A. Reid on the U.S. version of “The X-Factor,” Murs brought up the singer/songwriter.

“She’s the nation’s sweetheart,” Murs said of Swift. “She’s huge.”

Murs wouldn’t be worried that Swift may not be as critical as a judge should – citing the presence of the ever-cynical Simon Cowell on the panel.

“I think humans are inherently resistant to change,” he said. “You have your super fans that want you to sound exactly like the first two records ‘cause it’s like, that moment in time that kind of reached them.”

With tools like Facebook and Twitter, where bands and fans can interact on constant basis, it has been easier to hear feedback on the new material. Not all of the reviews are positive.

“We have a couple haters for the first time,” Wade admitted, as the rest of the band laughed. “I guess it’s better that people either love it or hate it.”

The album title is taken from a small town in Spain where a lot of old, Western, movies were filmed, including the Clint Eastwood classic, “The Good, the Bad, and the Ugly.” However, no empty chairs were involved in the recording process.

The lead singer said Hot Chelle Rae is shooting to release the new single at the end of January on RCA Records.

“I just can’t get my crap, which I think in the scheme of things is probably the least people were affected,” Antonoff said. “All of us know people who have had really crazy stuff happen in the storm.”

Antonoff admitted that he didn’t think “Sandy” would wreak as much havoc as it did, due in part to the lack of potency surrounding last year’s “Irene” storm.

“’Irene’ last year was like, a tree kind of dinged my house, and that was the worst thing that happened in our neighborhood,” said Antonoff. “I think (underestimating ‘Sandy’ due to ‘Irene’) is exactly what happened.”

Dost noted that the entire “SNL” crew was super-accommodating as the unorthodox week unfolded. Then Saturday, fun. performed the title track from Some Nights and “Carry On” during the show. You couldn’t have picked a more appropriate song off the band’s latest album – and certainly the fact that it’s LP’s next single and the music video was filmed in Manhattan doesn’t hurt the notion.

“It was something I didn’t think about too much until someone brought it up,” Ruess acknowledged of the song’s relevancy to the events of the week. “I don’t want to say that it’s fortuitous that we have a single coming out that’s called, ‘Carry On.’ Yunno, I think it made the song more special for us… it was the right time and it was a very emotional moment for us on ‘Saturday Night Live’ performing that song.”

The singer confessed that his nerves ratcheted up a bit for the performance – to the point where he threw back a cocktail to calm down – but was careful not to drink too much.

“The crazy thing about this year is that we started out – the first thing that we did was the day Some Nights came out we had done Conan O’Brien,” Ruess said. “That was the first big TV we had done, and I just remember being a mess.”

Just eight months later, fun. has performed on pretty much every TV show that welcomes a band on to play a song.

“It’s crazy how much more you get desensitized to it,” Ruess said. “With ‘SNL,’ even for a second it was like, ‘Oh my God this is live, I could like trip and fall.’”

Interestingly enough, the entire band not-so-secretly carries this insecurity – as if to be careful not to become an Internet meme or punch line with a single misstep. Listening to Antonoff confirm Ruess’ fear, and Dost recall a time in high school where he was picked on, you would never think these three men have toured the globe, conquered late-night TV, and delivered one of the biggest anthems of 2012 to the masses.

Then you realize fun. did all of that, and then some, in only eight months. It’s pretty crazy, by almost anyone’s standards.