Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBC/Getty Images
There were a lot of momentous moments in the late-night TV world this week, so let’s get straight into it. First of all, happy birthday to Guillermo, and happy 23rd anniversary to Jimmy Kimmel Live!. Kimmel is officially the grande dame of late night, and we thank him for inviting us into his mind palace for 20-plus years. He teared up talking about the violence in Minneapolis, which he is wont to do, and I think it’s very heartening that late night’s elder statesman has a lot of feelings. Making ha-ha he-he jokes about the nation’s slow (sometimes fast) descent into fascism could be a very deadening job, but Kimmel remains in touch with his emotions. That can’t be easy.
Speaking of the difficulty of being an artist or entertainer right now, George Saunders shared some great points about the utility of art in times of tumult when he visited The Late Show. He said the act of writing for an imagined reader who is smarter than him elevates his thinking. Then, when the reader meets that elevated thought process, everyone gets to “recalibrate our relationship to truth.” Sometimes, entertainment feels useless in the face of political reality. But sometimes, it helps us shape our thinking and find common truths, emotional armor, or just release. Here’s who did that this week in late night.
Have I Got News for You returned this weekend, and boy, there was a lot of news to get for us. I want to highlight a moment during the discussion of Eric Swalwell’s callout of Republican reps who criticize Trump in private but don’t do anything in public. The Ankler’s Janice Min pointed out Swalwell is most likely grandstanding in hopes of getting elected to governor, but Amber Ruffin had a good counterpoint: Let ’em. “Ain’t none of them motherfuckers sincere,” she said. “Let him say the good thing we need this country to be doing. Let ’em have it. Let us at least hear it. Let it fall on my ears and bring me an ounce of joy.” This feels like a good coping strategy as we all navigate a world full of political theater. Take the ounce of joy, but remember it’s just one ounce.
Dove Cameron can tell a tale. She’s also a very good opera singer, but that’s not entirely relevant right now. Cameron told her engagement story on The Tonight Show, and I was rapt for the whole thing. We love love, but we love a well-paced anecdote even more. And the way she remembers her fiancé’s “Will you marry me?” speech with perfect recall? It’s just lovely.
We love “At This Point in the Broadcast,” don’t we, folks? There’s the way it harkens back to silent comedy, and there’s the way everyone has to kinda-sorta lip-sync along with the narration. This iteration was notably surreal, what with the goopy-faced woman, cartoonish DIY bomb, and witchcraft unlocking true love’s kiss. But it was a real standout for Late Night writer Ben Warheit, who got to get real meta with it. He zigged with setting up a kiss with a hot witchy babe, then he zagged by kissing a distinguished gentleman instead. Point is, he wrote himself a kiss. Pervert.
Wow. What a bravura, sexual, and confident performance from Niecy Nash-Betts on Jimmy Kimmel Live!. I expect greatness from Deputy Raineesha, but I did not expect an anecdote about being in a prom polycule. Nash had a seemingly endless line of bawdy stories for Kimmel. She’s banging her wife in every country on the planet, she had three prom dates, she volunteered to be impregnated by Billy Dee Williams. Plus, she imparted some much-needed optimism/perspective-flipping for Kimmel. If someone threw him an adult prom, it would be fun and not sad. Say yes to life, Jimmy!
Stephen Colbert announced his final episode of The Late Show on a competing network, which is a fun “fuck you” to CBS. But before that, he had a nice kiki with his fellow host Seth Meyers. The NBC host forwarded some mail to Colbert that had been sent to the Late Night P.O. box, and Colbert expressed his anxiety about performing as “Stephen Colbert.” But the best moment was when Corrections set its sights on The Late Show. Apparently, Colbert’s “Monkey ’Mergency” segment needs to be more ape-inclusive. Corrections is the best web-exclusive show we have right now, so of course it was going to win late night when it made it to broadcast. This one is for the Jackals.