Late night had a hard time tackling alleged United Healthcare assassin Luigi Mangione this week. There was definitely a gap between what people IRL were saying and what network talk-show hosts could say on their advertisers’ dime. Mangione might be the first man to enter the Good for Her Cinematic Universe, but most late-night shows could only refer to the “tragic” nature of Brian Thompson’s murder. That’s the exact word Stephen Colbert used to describe the shooting on Monday. On The Late Show’s kid sister, After Midnight, Taylor Tomlinson said she’s probably the only host who looked at Mangione and thought Would, but also said it was good news he was caught. But maybe it was good news because it meant more pics?
Most shows fixated on the thirst for Mangione, sort of obscuring that a lot of the fandom for him isn’t expressing “He’s hot”; it’s “He’s right.” That’s not something that can be addressed fully in anything but the most jeremiad-esque of think pieces. Jon Stewart probably got closest on The Daily Show: He apologized to his booing audience for breaking the news that he’d been caught. “Look, I’m sorry, guys. Apparently, a bystander at McDonald’s ratted him out. And normally, I’d say ‘Snitches get stitches,’ but obviously, without pre-approval …”
But Mangione thirst traps weren’t the only thing happening this week. So let’s get into the top five.
A Classic Showbiz Tale on The Late Show
Does Gen Z care if Billy Crystal does a dead-on Howard Cosell impression? It doesn’t matter, because Colbert is eating that shit up. Crystal tells a tale of guest hosting The Tonight Show for Johnny Carson and having a recalcitrant guest in Mr. Cosell, despite the fact the two were friends. That’s just a classic showbiz and completely unrelatable story in this age of Twitch streamers and people whose entire job is doing epic cheese pulls on Instagram. But for those who love this old-school, “That’s Entertainment!”–ass content, ooh baby, this was the talk-show equivalent of Babylon.
Colin Jost Crashes Out on Late Night
Colin Jost seems almost dedicated to tanking his interview on Late Night With Seth Meyers. He comes in hot with a long rant about mannequins being hotter than they used to be, then calls the audience nerds for knowing the answers to his Pop Culture Jeopardy! questions. And he spends an inordinate amount of time trying to remember how the phrase “This ain’t your grandma’s ____” ends. It ends with whatever you want to say, Colin. Meanwhile Seth Meyers is blessing Jost’s shenanigans with a big smile like the Sun Baby from Teletubbies. All in all, a great segment, and a delightfully human performance from Jost.
Jeremy Strong Does Jimmy Kimmel’s Astrology Chart
Almost never in this interview do Jeremy Strong and Jimmy Kimmel get on the same page, but you can tell they’re having an absolute ball in their attempts. Strong and Kimmel give real “black cat and golden retriever” friendship energy, with Strong quoting Rilke and Kimmel going “Who is Rilke?” Strong says he looked up Kimmel on a website dedicated to primal astrology (?) and that Kimmel is a panda (??) just like Keith Urban (????). No notes. Perfect talk-show appearance.
John Mulaney Learns Loving Steely Dan Is Not Genetic
John Mulaney’s kid material is killing. It’s always a fraught moment when a comedian breeds and then all the jokes become about these new entities in their homes, but Malcolm Hiệp Mulaney is clearly a star in the making. Mulaney did a classic couch set on The Tonight Show (perhaps the most classic venue for a couch set) with new jokes about his son, his son’s emerging rockabilly tendencies, and his son’s hatred for Steely Dan. Don’t worry, John. When he’s a dad, he’ll get dad rock.
Who Is Borky?
Sorry to every other late-night show, but I’m not sure anything could ever be funnier than a person being named “Borky.” Every other clip this week has a classic talk-show vibe: mismatched guest-host interactions, a stand-up doing their material sitting down, Howard Cosell. Vinny Thomas talking about Borky, on the other hand, is exactly what it’s like to be in the writers’ room of a classic talk show. One guy is pitching the dumbest thing you’ve ever heard, and you’re all dying laughing and waiting for the head writer to go, “Okay, but we can’t use that, so let’s move on.” But how After Midnight innovates in the space is they go “Fuck it, Borky on network TV.”
