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We had thateggand thehamberdersand thedueling Fyre Fest docs, but the main story yet again was about somethingnothappening.
For starters, Kirsten Gillibrand announced her presidential candidacy onThe Late Show.
(Hes wrong, by the way.)
Announcing your candidacy on a late-night show is a rarer move than youd think.
Last election cycle, candidates mostly announced at rallies or in self-published YouTube videos.
Gillibrand chose to announce on the second highest-rated late-night show, with arguably the most political host.
To many people, Colbert still represents a shiny, Obama-era political literacy.
Thats not where you go to announce your candidacy.
Noah falls more into the comedy is saying stuff you shouldnt vein of late-night host than his counterparts.
The jokes are there to push.
And sometimes when the goal is pushing, being funny kind of falls to the wayside.
This week,Noah did the best famous-egg joke, then followed it with the laziest General Tsos joke.
Thats what happens when your focus seems to be provocation and not quality.
What is Jimmy Fallons ultimate goal?
Its certainly not to provoke.
Is it to be liked?Fallon went to Puerto Rico this weekand basically made a glorified tourism video.
Very little of Fallons trip to P.R.
was funny, but maybe being funny wasnt the point.
Maybe as the host of the Ur-late-night show, Fallon feels he has to set Americas talking points.
That role has so much cultural baggage.
He never wears the suit, he merely hides behind it.
Thats what any host does onThe Tonight Show: They stand behind the show; they dont wear it.
The main way Fallon distinguishes himself is his willingness to be theomega dogon his own show.
Hes willing to let Jose Andres roast him for six minutes.
Also doing what other hosts would not: Busy Philipps.
And those two spheres overlap most fully in the pimple-popping subreddit.
Busy had Dr. Pimple Popper herself on to teach good extraction techniques, and they used cupcakes.
It was the only stunt this week that evoked genuine body horror in host and viewer alike.
(Second place goes to Seth Meyers forlisting all of the Trump administrations connections to Russia in one breath.
Dang, girl.)
But Hathaway manages to get to the thrown-away aphorisms the Zen, almost motivational-poster patter of his speech.
The secret to a great impression isnt accuracy, its having a thesis statement.
Before Hathaways impression, I hadnt thought about what a good cult leader McConaughey would make.
Now Id happily join.
