Reggie Watts will lead the house band when The Late Late Show with James Corden premieres on March 23. Watts is familiar to Relix readers from his early days as lead singer of the Seattle soul band Maktub, a stint on the road with Soulive and even an appearance at LCD Soundsystem’s farewell gig. These days he may be better known as a stand-up comic, whose credits include Conan O’Brien’s “The Legally Prohibited from Being Funny on Television Tour,” IFC’s Comedy Bang! Bang! and multiple appearances at Bonnaroo.

How did The Late Late Show gig come about? Did you know James Corden?

Someone sent James some videos, he liked them and got hold of me. I met with James and his producer at a hotel in Beverly Hills and he just told me his excitement for the gig—that he loved what I did and he thought that I would be a good fit for the band leader. I was leaving Comedy Bang! Bang! already because I wanted to do my own stuff and I was excited about having a year or two to pursue that. So I was really reluctant for a long time.

I wasn’t sure because it’s a prime-time position on a corporate network with sponsors and all that stuff. But then I thought, “Well, it’s late, late night, so the show can be kind of weird.” And then I saw a documentary on the 1960s with excerpts from The Smothers Brothers [Comedy Hour] and they were very influential in a cool way. So that kind of got me thinking, “Well, maybe I’ll just try it as an experiment and see if we can infuse some interesting creative ideas among a sea of standardized talk shows.”

Speaking of experiments, you toured for a period of time with Soulive. Were there ever conversations about you joining the band on a permanent basis?

It was definitely in the air, but you’ve got the core three members who would cycle through different guests and lead singers, which I really dug. I know that when I was on, they were interested in breaking through into some other dimensions. They tried some new things and we tried some new things together, but I never had the sense that it was going to be a permanent thing. It was an awesome ride with some of the most incredible musicians I’ve ever played with.

Your 2012 TED Talk is a non-traditional spin on the form. What were your thoughts going into it?

TED was something that I’d always wanted to be a part of. I’m just interested in technology and I love being around all these amazing minds—these innovators of different forms of thought. I did the performance and I improvised it like I always do, and the reaction was really cool. It was fun to feel the room because I could take advantage of the seriousness, which was awesome. To feel that slowly change throughout the performance was really great.

So that was all improvised?

At technology conferences, or innovation conferences, I watch a lot of the talks and I absorb a lot of information. I also try to absorb as much of the environment and the city around me that I’m in. Then, with all of those things loaded, I just go up onstage and I’ll use some of that stuff. It can be anywhere from 10 percent to 90 percent of the show that’s based off the information I’ve seen. It helps me to be in the room and get the vibe, and that way, I can adjust the tone or the approach. I’ve just been a mimic all my life. I love mimicking. But I don’t do extended mimicry. I call it cultural sampling. I just sample elements of experiences and things that I find interesting, and then when it’s time to perform, the various conditions— mood, time of day, size of venue, all of these elements—determine the kind of improvisation.

You were part of LCD Soundsystem’s final show at New York’s Madison Square Garden [on 4/2/11]. What are your memories of that night?

First of all, it was weird that it even happened. I got to be on one of the last Big Day Out tours in Australia. I was on the Lily World Stage, which was kind of a weirdo micro-festival inside of the festival itself. And on another stage, in this weird, scaffolded, tent-like structure was LCD Soundsystem. I didn’t know much about them and they blew me away—one of the best bands I’ve ever experienced live. I was just fascinated by these guys manually playing all the electronic sounds that you hear on the album. After one of their shows, Nancy [Whang], James [Murphy] and I sat down and talked. We have a lot in common—a similar upbringing, similar influences and stuff like that.

I heard that they were going to disband, and that they were going to do the show at Madison Square Garden. It sold out instantaneously, and I was freaking out and thinking, “Who do I know who can get me into that show?” Then, I get this email from Nancy Whang, and she says, “Hey, would you be interested in playing or singing a little part on our show?” It was fucking crazy.

So then the scalper thing happened and they diversified into adding four more shows, for fans and to devalue the tickets, which I think is awe- some. [Ed Note: So many tickets to the MSG show ended up on the secondary market that the group added dates before the finale.] I had my own show one night, but I got to play three shows at Terminal 5 and, of course, Madison Square Garden. There was a technical glitch as soon as I got on—this weird feedback happened, which really sucked, but other than that, it was great to go for it. It was absolutely incredible. It was a weird night—very emotional, very surreal, all sorts of crazy people backstage. But most of all, I just felt like it was a huge honor to be a part of that.