First, let’s pour one out for The Problem With Jon Stewart. Yet another late-night show bites the dust, and Roy Wood Jr. seems more and more clairvoyant for seeking opportunities outside the topical comedy ecosphere. The New York Times said Problem was problematic from Apple’s POV because it wanted to tackle topics like China and AI. Is this a thing that’s going to keep happening? Seems probable, especially as media becomes one arrow in any given omnicorp’s quiver. Once again, it feels like the problem is that the people who make movies and TV don’t really like movies and TV anymore. Anyway, this frees up Stewart to do a guest-hosting week on The Daily Show if he so chooses. Though he should probably ask former Problem guest Bob Iger about returning to the job you crushed after a hiatus.
This week was also a big one for late night (Taylor’s Version). Clips of The Late Show (specifically Stephen Colbert dissing George Santos for not knowing his Reputation from his 1989) came across my TikTok FYP — a rare occurrence, especially for someone who watches late night for a living. One other Swiftie moment made it into this week’s ranking, but first I want to give a shout-out to Issa Rae on WWHL for being honest about not giving one shit about Swift and Travis Kelce. Most people were clamoring to discuss Traylor, since it’s infinitely less depressing than the news, but Rae stood firm. However, speaking of Taylor Swift …
5. Desi Lydic in Her Eras Era
Desi Lydic went to The Eras Tour movie screenings, and frankly it’s insane other shows didn’t. Whether you’re gently ribbing Swifties for their dedication or praising them for their contributions to the economy, it’s damn fine content. This is what The Daily Show used to do best: Before Trevor Noah and even Jon Stewart, TDS correspondents would go talk to a weird subculture and cut a charming four minutes or so out of the footage. The women who think billionaires suck, but female billionaire suck less? Give them a recurring segment! I’d love to check in with these specific youths on the issues.
4. Mike Hanford and a Tiny Microphone
You’ve heard of man-on-the-street interviews, but Birthday Boy-on-the-street interviews? That’s crazy. Mike Hanford went to New York Comic Con with a simple goal: to misname superhero cosplayers. And he achieved it. Petition for DC Comics to create a new villain called the Metal Bug. He wears the exact same suit as Black Manta and gets really mad whenever people get them confused. This would have been much higher on the list had it gone one for longer than one minute, 39 seconds. Let that boy breathe!
3. New York Opines on Gemma Collins Again
What an inspired choice by the WWHL producers to ask Tiffany “New York” Pollard to try to say three nice things about her former Big Brother nemesis, Gemma Collins. You just know it’s going to go bad. The nicest thing she can muster is that she had the good sense to ask for New York’s incense whenever she had to take a dump. Oh, and that applying spray tanner to her ass wasn’t that bad of an experience. As our House of Villains recaps state, Tiffany Pollard should be on TV at all times.
2. The Sewer Boys’ Late-Night Debut
Most actors still cannot promote their work on late night since the SAG-AFTRA strike is ongoing. But A24 struck a deal, so Dicks: The Musical can do the full press-tour thing. Issa Rae has to plug her prosecco, but Nathan Lane can bring out the Sewer Boys. It’s honestly incredible hearing Lane explain the plot of the movie on a late-night-show couch, as if the words coming out of his mouth make sense to normal humans. Of course, he knows Dicks isn’t going to make sense to everyone, which is why he recommends Blue Bloods reruns to anyone who doesn’t like being challenged by art.
1. Caroline Polachek? More Like Caroline PowerPoint
Normally, we don’t discuss musical guests in this column, but normally, pop songstresses don’t become queens of catchphrase comedy during their late-night sets. Caroline Polachek did a whole TED Talk thing on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, and it was wonderful. I need about half those slides on shirts — now. What’s more, no one I know who has seen this performance has been able to stop saying the word dang at the slightest bemusement. That’s Mike Myers–level comedic talent, okay? Polachek could turn dang into a movie, and then 20 years later we’re all wearing the docs (dang Crocs). It could happen.
More From This Series
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- After Midnight’s Plan to Fix America Won Late Night This Week
- Chris Fleming’s Experimental New Play Won Late Night This Week