The week started off not with a bang but with a whimper — specifically, the Democratic Party caving to end the shutdown. Every late-night host seemed frustrated with the way the Dems pissed away their post-Mamdani goodwill, but Jon Stewart’s rage on The Daily Show 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 — never too long, always well set up by Stewart’s ironic lead-in. Solid, dare I say Bush-era, satire.
But the biggest story in late night this week is obviously the death of Jimmy Kimmel Live! bandleader Cleto Escobedo III. Kimmel dedicated his Tuesday night monologue 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’s almost impossible to correctly weigh. Seeing Cleto’s 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.
With all that said, here were the week’s best non-rage and grief-inducing moments in late night.
What an incredible get from the The Tonight Show research and booking departments. A TikTok went viral this week of someone reviewing the résumé 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, “I know this is Scott Kelly, because I saw his LinkedIn. This is definitely him.” When has Joe Jonas ever had to go on LinkedIn?
Turns out Kelly wasn’t applying for a job. He and the résumé 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’ve seen real movie stars do way worse in their late-night debut.
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. 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’s the most friendly and affectionate sidekick since Guillermo. And with Frisbee’s recent passing (RIP), there’s room for another late-night-staple pupper.
As Chandler’s mom on Friends, Morgan Fairchild performs the perfect talk-show appearance in “The One With Mrs. Bing.” It’s 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 ’80s week. So it’s 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’s Big Adventure lore I’d never heard. Apparently, the entire “paging Mr. Herman” scene was semi-improved on the day, because James Brolin (or “Jim,” as she calls him) secured the hotel set as a favor from Aaron Spelling.
Who makes Anderson Cooper follow Patti LuPone? A sadist, that’s 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 “Haitian Mortician” speech from The Real Housewives of Miami with more gravitas and zeal than one would have expected. But obviously the standout moment was LuPone’s take on Meredith Marks’s yacht freakout. It’s the way she comes in hot with “You’re a liar!” 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.
The Josh Johnson Daily Show was firing on all cylinders when recapping the latest Trump-Epstein email scandal. Johnson had two standout jokes: saying Republicans releasing those emails instead of the DOJ files being the same as “trying to hide pissing yourself by shitting yourself” and, when reflecting on how odious of a person Epstein was, remarking, “I’m glad Hillary killed that guy.” Then the whole segment was taken over the top by Troy Iwata’s spelling- and punctuation-related meltdown. Because, yeah, Epstein’s emails are borderline illegible. He sucked on every level, including grammatically. It’s such a funny detail to pull out of what could be either too upsetting or repetitive of a story. Masterfully done.