When God closes a window (or at least announces a window’s closure in the near future), He opens a window. Last week saw the surprise announcement from Trevor Noah that he’d be peace-ing out of The Daily Show sooner rather than later. This week, we got the return of The Amber Ruffin Show and Tooning Out the News. Both are sister shows to bigger network boys. Ruffin comes from the Late Night With Seth Meyers brain trust, and Tooning Out shares a YouTube channel with Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show. That’s weird. They should get their own channel. Each definitely brings something the papa shows cannot. Ruffin’s show is more musical and goes deeper into long-running stories rather than merely reacting to the day’s news. And I’ve been on the record saying Tooning Out the News is often the meanest late-night show on TV. Something about the animated faces maybe makes the acid sting a little less? They’re both welcome additions to the weekly late-night content, and both made it on this week’s top five.
5. The Return of Tooning Out the News
To advertise the latest season of Tooning Out the News, Stephen Colbert let one of the cartoon correspondents crash The Late Show. Tyler Templeton seemingly corresponded live with Colbert, flubbing lines and reacting in real time to Colbert’s laughter. I’m not sure how that’s done. Probably the same deep-fake technology that made Bruce Willis in that Russian cell-phone commercial. In any case, it was fascinating to watch. Templeton and Colbert briefly clashed at the top about which guy is the “former president,†made all the more confusing for Colbert’s refusal to say the T-word. If a cartoon could make Colbert drop that “We’re not gonna say Trump’s name even though we talk about him every day†schtick, I’d donate my deep-fake likeness to it free of charge.
4. “A Closer Lookâ€? More Like “a Longer Smellâ€
Seth Meyers found out Trump openly complained about Rudy Giuliani’s stinky dumps, and it took up basically all of October 5’s “A Closer Look.†Normally, I’m not a toilet-humor guy, but I say let Seth have this. He went full Cronkite while reporting on Giuliani’s olfactory-obliterating poops — as in fully black-and-white and smoking a cigarette. Meyers has been on the mocking-Giuliani beat longer and with more passion than any of the other hosts, so he absolutely gets to go long on this stupid, stupid story.
3. Sabrina Wu’s Vendetta on The Tonight Show
Sabrina Wu opened their Tonight Show stand-up set with some very fun impersonations and even some beatboxing. Usually I cannot abide beatboxing, but Wu managed to make it a callback, so I’ll give it a pass. They also shared a deeply silly personal beef they have with Biden inauguration poet Amanda Gorman, and that’s quite a gift to give the TV-viewing audience. Gossip is a precious commodity; the pettier the better. It’s the engine that keeps podcasts like The Juice going, and is the only reason most of y’all know who the Try Guys are. Thank you, Wu, for your gift of goss.
2. The Amber Ruffin Show Is Going Full Armageddon
Committing to the bit is one of The Amber Ruffin Show’s greatest strengths. In their first show back from hiatus on September 30, the whole crew got involved in a bit about that real-life Armageddon situation. When Ruffin told Tarik Davis that NASA still doesn’t know if their rocket really altered the path of the asteroid, he took it upon himself to go blow up that damn rock himself. But Davis’s noble sacrifice was interrupted by cue-card guy Wally’s, then head writer Jenny Hagel’s. It was a lovely reminder of what this show brings to the landscape.
1. Roy Wood Jr. Won’t Be Fooled Again
Roy Wood Jr. felt thrown under the bus by Trevor Noah’s surprise Daily Show departure announcement. More specifically, that Noah started his li’l speech with Wood’s name in his mouth. “You started the shit last week: ‘I was talking to Roy Wood Jr.’ You coulda just said ‘Bitch, I’m gone!’†Wood clapped back. “Now everybody on my Twitter yelling at me, thinking that it’s my fault.†Wood passed the buck to “Dua Lupita†and chastised Noah for breaking poor Ronny Chieng’s brain by making him stand onstage during the whole announcement. It was pure theater, and circling back to what we discussed in No. 3 on this list, it was gossip. Manufactured gossip? Probably, but dishy nevertheless.
More From This Series
- Chris Fleming’s Experimental New Play Won Late Night This Week
- Late Night With Seth Meyers Delivers the Best Topical Comedy for This Moment
- Queening Out With the Divas of Late Night This Week