In a sentence simply no one could have seen coming before last week, on Thursday night former Presidential candidate Mayor Pete Buttigieg hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live! to a mostly empty audience due to coronavirus. In his opening monologue, Buttigieg explained how the bizarro scenario took place joking “that Iowa Caucus app REALLY screwed everything up†before explaining that Kimmel asked him to guest host because he had to shoot Who Wants To Be A Millionaire, a show, he quipped, that rival Mayor Michael Bloomberg has won “about 56 thousand times.†Mayor Pete, clearly always up for a challenge, agreed to guest host well before every thing on earth - including his live, studio audience - was cancelled due to coronavirus.
Nevertheless, he persisted (sorry, wrong political catch phrase) with attempts at both topical and self deprecating humor. About his lack of an audience? Buttigieg said, “When you don’t have a real audience - you have to fake one. Just like Trump’s inauguration.†Zing! The randomness of his being asked to guest host for Kimmel? “You know some people have been skeptical about me hosting a show like this,†said Buttigieg. “Well, a lot of people said I’d never get elected President – and I showed them!†A knee slapper. Dropping out of the Presidential race? “As you know, I dropped out of the Presidential race last week - which was unfortunate. But what can I say? Some candidates know when it’s time to get out of the race, and some candidates are Tulsi Gabbard.†The hits just keep coming!
The monologue ended with a pre-taped segment of currently unemployed Mayor Pete applying for a job at a Wetzel’s Pretzels and being relegated to passing out samples (hopefully this was filmed pre-coronavirus outbreak) and earning himself the title “Pretzel Pete.†While the lack of an audience made an already pretty awkward situation that much more awkward, Pete and his pleated pants got the job done. That being said he should definitely send a fruit cake to the editors who hilariously plugged in clips of people laughing hysterically to all his jokes which helped fill out the thin room. Check out Pete Buttigieg’s guest hosting gig above and decide for yourself whether he’s got a future in Late Night.