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The week started off not with a bang but with a whimper \u2014\u00a0specifically, the Democratic Party caving<\/a> to end the shutdown. Every late-night host seemed frustrated with the way the Dems pissed away their post-Mamdani<\/a> goodwill, but Jon Stewart\u2019s rage on The Daily Show<\/a> was definitely the most impactful\/relatable. Comparing being a Democrat to being a Giants fan? Devastating. The clip packages set up by TDS were also rhetorically perfect \u2014 never too long, always well set up by Stewart\u2019s ironic lead-in. Solid, dare I say Bush-era, satire.<\/p>\n But the biggest story in late night this week is obviously the death of Jimmy Kimmel Live! bandleader Cleto Escobedo III<\/a>. Kimmel dedicated his Tuesday night monologue<\/a> to his longtime friend, and it was genuinely touching and funny. Kimmel did such a good job of balancing earnest grief with funny stories of the deceased, which is the tone everyone wants in a memorial, that it\u2019s almost impossible to correctly weigh. Seeing Cleto\u2019s parents in the audience and bandstand made it all the more impactful. It is terrible that Kimmel had to shoulder this weight, but he carried it like a champ.<\/p>\n With all that said, here were the week\u2019s best non-rage and grief-inducing moments in late night.<\/p>\n What an incredible get from the The Tonight Show research and booking departments. A TikTok<\/a> went viral this week of someone reviewing the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 of one Scott Kelly at a Jonas Brothers concert. And since the JoBros were going on Fallon, they found Scott Kelly and let him tell his side of the story. When meeting Kelly, Joe Jonas says, \u201cI know this is Scott Kelly, because I saw his LinkedIn. This is definitely him.\u201d When has Joe Jonas ever had to go on LinkedIn?<\/p>\n Turns out Kelly wasn\u2019t applying for a job. He and the r\u00e9sum\u00e9 viewer\/concertgoer served in the military together and were looking to link up to help other veterans transition to the civilian-job market. Kelly did a great job playing to the crowd and plugging his podcast. I\u2019ve seen real movie stars do way worse in their late-night debut.<\/p>\n Demi Moore may not have won the Oscar last awards season, but she did really up the Q rating of her dog. Moore was back on The Late Show and so was Pilaf<\/a>. Stephen Colbert made Pilaf her own swag bag to thank her for appearing on the show, which was well deserved. Pilaf is a star, and Moore is right to bring her out as much as possible. She\u2019s the most friendly and affectionate sidekick since Guillermo. And with Frisbee\u2019s recent passing (RIP)<\/a>, there\u2019s room for another late-night-staple pupper.<\/p>\n As Chandler\u2019s mom on Friends, Morgan Fairchild performs the perfect talk-show appearance in \u201cThe One With Mrs. Bing.\u201d It\u2019s an exquisite use of Jay Leno playing himself. Fairchild is a late-night vet, and Jimmy Kimmel drew on that by booking her for his \u201980s week. So it\u2019s no surprise that she crushed her appearance during a tough time on the show. She nicely threaded the needle of honoring Cleto and his family while also being affable and chatty. And the real gag is she dropped Pee-wee\u2019s Big Adventure lore I\u2019d never heard. Apparently, the entire \u201cpaging Mr. Herman\u201d<\/a> scene was semi-improved on the day, because James Brolin (or \u201cJim,\u201d as she calls him) secured the hotel set as a favor from Aaron Spelling.<\/p>\n Who makes Anderson Cooper follow Patti LuPone? A sadist, that\u2019s who. On WWHL, Andy Cohen set his bestie up to fail when he had both LuPone and Cooper do famous monologues from Housewives history. Cooper acquitted himself incredibly well doing the \u201cHaitian Mortician\u201d<\/a> speech from The Real Housewives of Miami with more gravitas and zeal than one would have expected. But obviously the standout moment was LuPone\u2019s take on Meredith Marks\u2019s yacht freakout. It\u2019s the way she comes in hot with \u201cYou\u2019re a liar!\u201d before Cohen is even done setting her up. And also the way Cohen looks on adoringly as she blasts through the text. They say acting is 90 percent reacting, and Cohen shows us why.<\/p>\n The Josh Johnson Daily Show was firing on all cylinders when recapping the latest Trump-Epstein email scandal<\/a>. Johnson had two standout jokes: saying Republicans releasing those emails instead of the DOJ files being the same as \u201ctrying to hide pissing yourself by shitting yourself\u201d and, when reflecting on how odious of a person Epstein was, remarking, \u201cI\u2019m glad Hillary killed that guy.\u201d Then the whole segment was taken over the top by Troy Iwata\u2019s spelling- and punctuation-related meltdown. Because, yeah, Epstein\u2019s emails are borderline illegible. He sucked on every level, including grammatically. It\u2019s such a funny detail to pull out of what could be either too upsetting or repetitive of a story. Masterfully done.<\/p>\n