Slowly but surely, the late-night audiences are returning. Nature, as they say, is healing. Jimmy Kimmel Live! can only admit 89 audience members to its tapings on Hollywood Boulevard, which is 88 more audience members than the show had last week. Recently, Kimmel had been playing to an audience of one, a random fan who joined the gathered staffers to do emotional labor for a talk-show host by yukking it up. To celebrate having a whopping 89 new (masked) faces to look at, Kimmel promised every audience member tube socks and boiled eggs when the show wrapped.
This makes two-thirds of the Late Night Jimbos who have brought audiences back to their shows. The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon has had a live audience for weeks, only recently reaching full capacity. The Late Late Show With James Corden, on the other hand, has kept its studio a family affair. The show plays more like kids skipping school than a talk show at this point, which is a fun vibe.