What a week for the writers of late-night TV! Amber Ruffin April Fool-ed Seth Meyers. Mike Scollins got a whole subsection of “Surprise Inspection.” Jimmy Kimmel Live!’s Devin Field got to fly out his dad. It was simply a banner week for the contributors. Eliana Kwartler got to call Stephen Colbert “Steve,” the ultimate honor for The Late Show, in my opinion.
But it wasn’t all staff-writer-spotlight moments. It was also big movie stars, stolen White House trinkets, and Jimmy Fallon being surprisingly intimate with Jonathan Groff. Here’s what hit hardest on late night this week.
5. The Tonight Show Upholds Kayfabe
This was a fascinating clip of late night to behold, because Jimmy Fallon was so respectful of the kayfabe necessary to uphold Dwayne “The Rock” Johnson and Roman Reigns. He fully bought into their WWE story line in this NBC clip, therefore (1) highlighting the artificiality of the fiction (if Peacock hadn’t fully bought into Wrestlemania, would these two have a slot on The Tonight Show? Unlikely); and (2) almost bringing a Bravo energy to the Rock’s heel return. No one is good and no one is bad if even the heels are given space to talk their shit. In short: Wrestling is Housewives, and Housewives is wrestling, and that embiggens both genres.
4. Read the Teleprompter
Jack Martin was so commendable on this episode of After Midnight, because he clearly said the things the After Midnight writing staff told him to say, and he said them sexily. He was a perfect vessel for perfect jokes, and that’s to be commended.
3. The Girls Who Girl, Girl. The Girls Who Girln’t, Gorn’t
And yet ranking even higher is this After Midnight clip that features three gals who have supported one another for more than a decade: Laurie Kilmartin, Jackie Kashian, and Maria Bamford. It’s hard to think of comedians who are funnier than any one comic in this lineup. Unless you think of the other two, and this particular game, in which they try to communicate very specific ideas via dog-communication buttons and manage to make each one both the star and the hapless BFF for each third of the segment. Well done!
2. Kirsten Dunst Is in the Pickup Line
Sorry to comedy as a genre, but hot goss among the celebs will almost always surpass a well-constructed joke. So it went for Kirsten Dunst and Jimmy Kimmel as they litigated their children’s behavior on Jimmy Kimmel Live! There’s only one thing I want more than a good joke from Maria Bamford, and it’s any insight into what it’s like to be Kirsten Dunst for even one second.
1. Oh My God, He Admit It
For about a week and a half before the IOF attack on World Central Kitchen, José Andrés was inescapable on late night. The man was so cute on WWHL. He delighted on The Tonight Show. He spoke about eating the sandworms to Bon Appétit. So big-ass, perhaps even huge, congrats to The Late Show for speaking out about the attack on World Central Kitchen as well as the universal right to food that all humans share. By devoting so much time to simply speaking the truth, Stephen Colbert singled himself out this week.
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