This week's best of late-night: A return to studios and the reaction to Kamala Harris
With huge political news and big in-studio returns, late night was certainly busy this week!
CBS took the last few weeks of on-air hiatus to revamp their late shows and bring The Late Show with Stephen Colbert and The Late Late Show with James Corden back to their respective studios, well sorta.
While The Late Show is out of Colbert’s bathtub, the staff and crew are not yet back on the legendary Ed Sullivan stage. Instead, CBS built a replica of the host’s office inside the theater to use as a makeshift set, and Colbert certainly had a blast walking the at home audience – still no live audiences – through his memorabilia.
“This feels like Captain America,” he said after the camera panned to his Captain America shield borrowed from his real office. “You know, when Cap wakes up in the fake hospital they built to make him feel more at home.”
Over on The Late Late Show, which films on the CBS lot in Los Angeles, Corden and company enjoyed a tad bit more normalcy; they were able to film on their full stage! The lovable British host even donned a full suit and tie, something none of the other late night hosts have men have dared. Samantha Bee, on the other hand, has been rocking her signature blazer look since the beginning of lockdown, while filming in the woods like the boss she is.
Corden wasted no time getting back in the swing of things on his set. On Monday he tackled Cardi B and Megan Thee Stallion’s mega-viral “WAP” video, by hilariously inserting himself into the mansion as the rappers’ fussy roommate.
Politics also dominated late-night this week more than normal with the huge announcement that Joe Biden has picked California Sen. Kamala Harris to run alongside him as his vice president. Now, each of the late night hosts included the news in their monologues, mostly at current VP Mike Pence’s expense. Fallon compared Pence to a “mannequin at Kohl's” while Corden likened him to a “jar of mayonnaise.” But The Tonight Show took the announcement a step further.
Jimmy Fallon sported a grey haired wig and dusted off his best Biden impression for a skit focused on the presidential hopeful relaying the big news via a virtual press conference. Let’s just say the excitement over Kamala Harris was overwhelming.
“Is Kamala here?” one of the interviewers asked, clearly more eager to speak with the VP pick than Joe Biden.
And I’m eager to hear what some of the returning late night hosts have to say when they hit the airwaves later this week; the politically charged Full Frontal with Samantha Bee and Last Week Tonight with John Oliver come back from hiatus!
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