She’s unreal.
Photo: Lloyd Bishop/NBC via Getty Image
It is happening again, Agent Cooper. Jimmy Fallon is shilling for a tech venture. OpenAI CEO Sam Altman was a guest on The Tonight Show on December 8, and Fallon was all about this nascent technology and Altman’s claims that it can be used to help raise your children. The whole thing was eerily similar to when Paris Hilton gifted Fallon a Bored Ape NFT. What does Altman think of simulation theory, I wonder?
The following night, Stephen Colbert said straight to the camera that AI is a financial bubble that could cause another Great Depression (well, actually, he silently mouthed it). Colbert was interviewing CNBC’s Andrew Ross Sorkin, so it makes sense that the convo was more skeptical of AI than when talking to one of its big machers. But Colbert still pushed back and had more follow-up questions for Sorkin than Fallon had for Altman. Even anecdotes weren’t safe from critique. When Sorkin said he took a very expensive cab ride, Colbert tried to get him to say the actual price. As we’ll see later in the list, Colbert excels at making an interview a genuine interplay between guest and host. And, going into next year, we’ll have fewer and fewer chances to see that. That’s for a future late-night column, though. Below, the best moments on late night this week.
As we’ll see at No. 1 on this list, quirky gals bringing props onto Late Night With Seth Meyers are dear to my heart. Amy Sedaris brought her crafts, and — this is the brilliant part — she made him price them for an upcoming rummage sale. What a weird bit. Which Sedaris gewgaw do you want the most? I’d go for a penny bookmark myself. Shout-out to the teens making these notions for her. I just hope she’ll pay for their care once the glitter lung takes hold.
“Pup Quiz” is a great Tonight Show bit. It doesn’t matter how unflappable the star is; multiple puppies in your lap are gonna flap you. You’re gonna get flapped. Millie Bobby Brown got so flustered at the end of this segment that she shouted, “Give me a break, Higgins!” in genuine exasperation. Did Higgins give her a break? He did not. It’s always fun when he gets to play the malevolent game-show host à la Homonym on 30 Rock. He’s an excellent torturer. Note the way he tauntingly says “You lost” to Fallon after Brown gets a question right. That’s a dark presence.
Speaking of “It is happening again,” y’all ready for a new forever war? Jon Stewart isn’t. Stewart noted the parallels between the Iraq War and the potential conflict in Venezuela with a classic Daily Show clip package, then brought back Rob Corddry for some additional early-aughts vibes. It took way too long for me to figure out the whole thing was a big Hot Tub Time Machine joke, especially as someone who just watched Hot Tub Time Machine 2 and thought it was weirdly good. But the best part was seeing how Corddry can still make Stewart break. His razzing of The Problem With Jon Stewart was the best grace note on the piece.
Taylor Swift has now done three of the four network late-night shows this year. Will she do Kimmel? Comics Unleashed With Byron Allen? Only time will tell. Swift was on The Late Show to talk about her Eras Tour docuseries. Colbert asked her to name her top-five favorite songs, to which she was like, Nah. Begrudgingly, she said “All Too Well (10 Minute Version)” and “Mirrorball” would be on there but demurred from further comment. Colbert was very funny, making a big show of his plans going awry. Then, she gave him advice on how to come down from fans screaming your name every night: Swift thinks Colbert should write a pulpy mystery novel, and she’s got the whole outline basically finished. Sold, Colbert crossed out his “top five” list and took notes on the upcoming Swift-Colbert best-selling murder mystery.
Earlier this year, I argued that the cast of Now You See Me: Now You Don’t should have done more magic tricks while promoting their film. And I stand by that. Thankfully, Amanda Seyfried got my letters and did a coin trick on Late Night With Seth Meyers. But everything that happened before was equally as magical. Seyfried is so stoked for The Testament of Ann Lee, she can’t help but evangelize the woman she played. Her energy is infectious. But the part of this interview that was the most wondrous, the part that made me go “Wow!,” was when Seyfried wondered aloud if one of the ducks on her farm was scared when a fox killed and ate it. Yeah, babe, that was probably very scary for the duck. It’s such a human moment, and it has no place in a well-oiled movie-promotion machine. You can watch Seth Meyers also kind of take a moment to try and figure out how the interview got there. But I’m so glad it did.
