After big news out of Washington Wednesday and the ongoing media firestorm surrounding Taylor Swift’s love life — among other topics — there was plenty to discuss on the late-night talk shows.
From big guests to big jokes to big topics, here’s a rundown of all the best of Wednesday’s gabfests. Starting with…
Clip of the Night
In order to truly explore the generational gap between Swift fans and Travis Kelce fans, The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon took to the streets at 30 Rock Plaza in New York City to test the knowledge of dads and their daughters. Although in this game, called Swap Quiz, the daughters could only answer questions about Kelce and the dads had to answer questions about Swift.
As one might imagine, the results are hilarious, unless you’re a fan of the nonexistent “Kentucky Chiefs” football team or the Swift song “Back to the Future.”
Who Told it Best?
With news breaking that House Republicans have chosen Majority Leader Steve Scalise as their nominee for speaker, it was time for the late-night hosts to dig into the announcement with jokes about the Louisiana pol. So, who told it best?
Jimmy Kimmel:
“Scalise beat out Jim Jordan in a closed-door session and now will spend a night in the fantasy suite with Matt Gaetz. We’ll see how they hit it off.”
“It’s still unclear, though, if he has enough votes to win the speakership because that would require Republicans to accept the results of an election and that’s really not their thing.”
Seth Meyers:
“House Republicans today nominated majority leader Steve Scalise to be the next speaker, while next week’s speaker is still anyone’s guess!”
Jimmy Fallon:
“During a closed-door meeting, Republicans nominated Steve Scalise to be the next speaker of the house, and during the meeting congressmen were encouraged to sing, dance and take selfies.”
“Yeah, Steve Scalise was nominated and then George Santos was like, ‘Thank you, I accept.’”
Stephen Colbert:
“Congratulations, Steve, you are one step closer to having the worst job in the world. Just one rung below emptying the porta-potties at a chili cook off.”
Joke(s) of the Night
Regular watchers of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert know that a trademark feature of his monologues is his clever way of verbally “captioning” photos of the people featured in his bits, and tonight was chock full:
For Colbert’s complete monologue, check out the clip below:
Interview of the Night
Jimmy Kimmel Live! welcomed actor and filmmaker Sean Penn to discuss his new documentary Superpower on Paramount+. The project features Penn alongside Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, at one point sitting in a bunker the night of the Russian invasion of Ukraine. The Oscar-winning actor had nothing but high praise for Zelensky.
“Of any head of state, of any politician, of any head of a large company, there’s a time you start to feel the script and the spin,” Penn said. “There’s never a moment with him that’s not genuine.”
Penn’s interview also included how Zelensky reacted to the documentary, what it was like for Penn to take a group of Ukrainian fighter pilots to see Top Gun: Maverick, what Penn tells his kids when he travels to dangerous places and his take on other conflicts around the world.
Name Drops of the Night
Country music star Reba McEntire was on Watch What Happens: Live With Andy Cohen, where she managed to name drop quite a few celebrities during her visit; names like Johnny Cash, Gwen Stefani, Kenny Rogers and Kelly Clarkson. But perhaps her mention of Dolly Parton was the most head-turning. And that’s because McEntire said that Parton doesn’t text, nor can one get her on the phone. In fact, says McEntire, the best way to communicate with the country icon is through… fax machine.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers air on NBC; Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs on ABC; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs on CBS; Watch What Happens Live With Andy Cohen airs on Bravo.
