Late Night Puts Trump’s Ratings Bragging in Perspective

Best of Late Night Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If you’re interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. On Monday night, late-night hosts returned to broadcast versions of their shows from their kitchens, dens, offices and children’s playrooms. Most went more casual in dress, too, but Jimmy Kimmel and Stephen Colbert both stuck with their typical suits.

“A: It gives a sense that I’m at a job,” Colbert said on what he called “A Late Show. ” “And B: I do not have a physique that lends itself to casual clothing. ” While James Corden hosted a one-night special, “Homefest,” and Conan O’Brien promised absolutely no information or news, Colbert, Kimmel, Trevor Noah and Seth Meyers all stuck to more formulaic monologue musings, with jokes on President Trump’s bragging about the recent high ratings of his White House press briefings. “Wow, OK Firstly, the ratings aren’t high because of Trump.

People are watching TV because of the virus. That’s why they’re watching the briefings. This will be like the guy on ‘Friends’ who owns the coffee shop taking credit for the success of the show: ‘It’s all because of my lattes, you know? That’s why people watched.

’ No, you just happened to be there, dude. ” — TREVOR NOAH “And by the way, just because people are watching you doesn’t mean it’s good. Have you heard of ‘The Masked Singer’? Right now half of this country is watching a show about a bunch of toothless meth heads abusing tigers.

” — JIMMY KIMMEL “A hundred and fifty thousand Americans are infected, 2,500 Americans have died, and he’s excited about his ratings. You know, it reminds me of the Hindenburg coverage. ” — STEPHEN COLBERT “Also, we’re only trapped inside watching because you kept ignoring the crisis and pretending it would go away until it was too late. We’re forced to stay inside and watch you because you screwed up.

More people than ever are playing Scrabble right now, but it sure as hell isn’t because Scrabble is fun. ” — SETH MEYERS It was during some of these media briefings that Trump has made statements he has later pulled back from, including extending social distancing guidelines through April 30 after previously suggesting they could be relaxed by Easter. “Trump is flip-flopping so much, if the Olympics weren’t canceled he would be competing against Simone Biles.