We (late-night television) are so back (because even though SAG-AFTRA hasnât resolved its strike against the AMPTP, late-night hosts are obligated to work under SAGâs Netcode agreement), baby! Hollywood is indeed half back. The WGA struck a deal with the AMPTP, pushing the Strike Force Five to quit their podcast and bring back their TV shows. Every host acknowledged the strike in their Monday (or Sunday, for John Oliver) night monologue, but only a proud few guests made note of the strike this week. Wanda Sykes said only half of her was back to work on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, and Seth Meyers congratulated Nick Offerman for his turn on The Last of Us in the most oblique, strike-honoring manner possible.
And all the card-carrying SAG members found non-SAG-covered things to promote. Taraji P. Henson told Jimmy Fallon about her new play and her skin-care line (also her Renaissance Tour outfit). Matthew McConaughey plugged his childrenâs book. And Bob Odenkirk plugged the Union Solidarity Auction. But weâre not here to discuss who most seamlessly wove pro-labor discourse into their comedy (or are we?) â weâre here to talk about who had the funniest first week back, post WGA strike.
5. Stephen Colbert Teaches John Oliver the Art of T-Shirt Cannon War
John Oliver needs to get more practice with a t-shirt cannon. That is how Maude Flanders died â show some respect! Oliver fully wrecked some poor woman in the front row on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert, aiming a T-shirt cannon with no arc straight toward her face. For shame! Oliver did get a âWoo!â when he said his first topic back was prison health care, and thatâs not nothing. Why did that guy woo? Did he do time and suffer under that inequitable health-care system? Is he a researcher on Last Week Tonight? We may never know.
4. Wanda Sykes Isnât French
Jimmy Kimmel gave many of his first guest spots to women with comedy to plug: Luenell, Kathy Griffin, and Wanda Sykes all got interview time in his first week. And he set each of them up for success, laying setups before them in order to let them land punchlines with great aplomb. Sykes closed best of the three, and thatâs why sheâs in the No. 4 spot. Her dedication to stereotyping her wifeâs entire side of the family as cig-ripping Frenchies is truly outstanding.
3. Angie K. Does Prop Comedy on WWHL
I have been thinking a lot about Angie Kâs windshield sunglasses on Real Housewives of Salt Lake City. Not as much as I do the Roman Empire, but more than the Holy Roman Empire, okay? Angie K knew exactly how to exploit that to the fullest on WWHL, bestowing hideous Tron sunglasses to Bowen Yang (promoting Dicks: The Musical because they got a SAG waiver) and Andy Cohen. This is how you seize opportunity when it presents itself.
2. Hayley Williams Forces Jimmy Fallon Back to His Roots (Featuring the Roots)
Jimmy Fallon would probably like to think heâs come a long way from doing comedy songs like âIdiot Boyfriendâ on MTV, but Paramoreâs Hayley Williams is here to argue is that, perhaps, the thing youâre first known for is pretty cool? Williams is somewhat still stuck in the Twilight soundtrack hole, and Fallon is still a musical-comedy man. Are these actually reps to avoid? Society says, âNah.â Drop a full album of comedy songs, Fallon! Weâd listen. Do it, coward!
1. Jokes Seth, Amber, and Jenny Can Tell
This is a pretty standard-issue âJokes Seth Canât Tellâ segment until the joke Amber Ruffin tells about Bill Cosby bombs. I tell a lie: It was already an outlier because Jenny Hagel does prop comedy Ă la Angie K. But itâs when everyone takes a moment to acknowledge that Cosbyâs relentless Temple sweatshirt-wearing is maybe not the most well-known thing about him (the most well-known thing about him is probably all the alleged crimes) that this segment really takes off. A true comedian takes perverse delight in any joke that bombs, and all three relish the lack of response Ruffinâs dig at Cosby elicits. We are so back.
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