The battle of words between The Decemberists and Stephen Colbert boiled over into the rock battle of the century was fought on The Colbert Report, with Stephen Colbert and The Decemberists' Chris Funk battling in a guitar competition: Rock and Awe: Countdown to Guitarmageddon.

Eliot Spitzer, Henry Kissinger, Anthony DeCurtis, Jim Anderson (NYU), Peter Frampton, Morley Safer, Robert Schneider (Apples in Stereo) and Rick Nielsen (Cheap Trick) were on hand to make this the best final episode of the Report this year, and one of the best episodes of the series to date.

Henry Kissinger, are you ready to rock?

The Chicago Tribune's Maureen Ryan recaps: 'The Colbert Report's' guitar shredathon brings in the big guns