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This week saw a preponderance of old-school late-night segments across shows. We got two Broadway songs (see below) as well as cooking segments on Late Night With Seth Meyers and The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon. And Jimmy Kimmel pranked Guillermo in a way that also harkened to older, meaner prank TV. All these throwbacks had one thing in common: not being topical political humor. I think that’s going to be a through-line of this Trump presidency. The information overload has already happened. We can’t pay attention to every bad thing, and it doesn’t actually help the oppressed to wring one’s hands and boo. (Looking at you, Colbert’s performative audience.) Help where you can, learn what you must, and have some fun if it’s at all possible. Possibly by making French toast on television.
The news is surreal, disgusting, and upsetting. We need comedy that can match that energy. The Daily Show won grossest joke of the week, making RFK Jr.’s alleged mouse/baby-chicken smoothie, the one he feeds to his hawks, per cousin Caroline Kennedy. The feathers were a nice touch, but baby chicks just kind of have fuzz. Sure, someone spitting out feathers has been funny since the silent era, but a little more verisimilitude would have gotten you higher on this list.
We got two musical numbers from Broadway shows on late night this week, and all I can say is “Hell yeah.” Not since The Rosie O’Donnell Show have we been so frequently blessed with hoofers hoofing about in the ol’ hoof house. The Late Show featured a performance of Sunset Boulevard’s “As If We Never Said Goodbye” from hat enthusiast Nicole Scherzinger, which was lush and beautiful, but not funny. This number from Death Becomes Her on The Tonight Show? Funny. And so many quick changes! Gown upon gown upon gown, all for the gaze.
Taylor Tomlinson doesn’t give a shit about AI. But she does care deeply about AM (artificial monkey). Tomlinson used two After Midnight monologues to speak to her passions, or lack thereof. Acknowledging the lack of fucks she had for new Chinese AI DeepSeek felt like good course correction — and refreshing, honestly. Late-night hosts aren’t allowed to be disinterested in anything, be it the tech sector or whatever is getting birthed from the Ryan Murphyverse this week. But Taylor said, “No! I care about Better Man way more than AI.” As well she should. The Better Man hive grows ever larger, and with each impassioned testimonial, we grow stronger.
Each of the three clips of Will Ferrell on The Late Show from Wednesday night are a delight. The part where he and Stephen Colbert make fun of Vin Diesel and Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson for their “nobody wins a fight” contract caveat was great, but Ferrell actually had his best stuff at the top of his appearance. Coming in hot shitting on the documentary wing of the Academy for snubbing Will & Harper was tremendous. Then he and Colbert kind of battled over who was the most married? I love when Colbert feels comfortable enough to cut it up with a guest, and clearly Ferrell is a safe space.
Like musical numbers, there should be more cooking segments on late night. But for the opposite reason: Musicals should perform songs on late night so that people can see professionals doing what they do best and to trap an ephemeral art in amber for posterity, while when a chef is on late night, no one is at their optimal performance; the form battles the content. Food takes time, TV goes fast, chefs maybe don’t have much to say while they’re talking, hosts can’t cook, nobody knows what they’re doing, and also there’s fire. Seth Meyers was arduously pulling conversation out of Emilio Vitolo, and still most of what he got back were swear words. The man sounded like a Goodfeather. Great shit, perfect segment, no notes. Don’t fuckin’ shake a Manhattan.
