Week 1: How Late Night Hosts Have Kept Viewers Entertained During Self-Isolation

Every single late night show is off the air right now. Some hosts have continued to make content to share with audiences stuck at home to keep them entertained, giving things a looser and more intimate feel — while reminding people how to stay safe.

Here’s how the top names in late night have kept entertaining.

The Tonight Show with Jimmy Fallon

Jimmy Fallon has been doing special at-home episodes, aided by his wife and very energetic young kids.

Fallon’s first installment of The Tonight Show: At Home Edition was on St. Patrick’s Day, celebrating the holiday and performing a little tribute song about “St. Paddy’s Day on Quarantine.”

The unquestionable highlight of the second installment was Fallon’s daughters hilariously hijacking the monologue, and that’s saying something for an episode that featured Lin-Manuel Miranda as a special guest.

Miranda and Fallon talked about what it’s been like staying at home for a a few days, especially with kids from home.

Miranda, who recently shared a song that was ultimately cut from Hamilton, even entertained Fallon and viewers with a performance of “Dear Theodosia.”

In the third installment, Fallon brought back a laugh track of sorts during his monologue before sharing some of his favorite #MyQuarantineInSixWords submissions from fans, including “Day one: ate all the snacks” and “Expelled my kid from home school.”

Fallon also spoke with Jennifer Garner, who has teamed up with Amy Adams for a #SaveWithStories campaign where celebrities read children’s books to help raise money Save the Children and No Kid Hungry. She also played some saxophone while Fallon sang “Happy Birthday.”

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Stephen Colbert has been doing shows from home as well, the first one literally from his bathtub. He mocked President Trump’s Monday press conference and others including Bill de Blasio, who got widely criticized for going to the gym a few days ago, and Devin Nunes, who contradicted the advice of public experts earlier this week.

“To be fair, nothing gets people to avoid going somewhere like knowing they might run into Devin Nunes.”

The second installment featured Colbert outside by a roaring fire, with a monologue on continued criticism of the U.S. government’s coronavirus response, calling out Trump in particular for saying “I felt it was a pandemic long before it was called a pandemic.”

“You can’t gaslight us,” Colbert said.

This time he was accompanied by bandleader Jon Batiste, who chatted with Colbert about keeping busy in quarantine and even played some piano and performed a duet with Colbert of “Danny Boy” (albeit with slightly different lyrics).

The third installment started with Colbert outside again, looking at all the states cracking down to stop the spread of coronavirus.

“You know it’s serious when Florida starts enforcing rules.”

But Colbert also made sure to keep things light by talking about the most important news right now: the “butthole cut” of Cats. Like, a surprising amount of this show is about buttholes.

Jimmy Kimmel Live!

Jimmy Kimmel has kept up with viewers in a series of “quarantine minilogues” about the news and also daily life for him right now.

“My blood type right now is Disney positive, Disney+, whatever they call it. We have watched Frozen 2 more times than the animators who drew it have watched Frozen 2.”

Kimmel also mocked the president for praising his own response to the coronavirus, and even teased Tom Brady a bit over his decision to leave the Patriots.

For his second minilogue, Kimmel called out people who are still not taking the CDC guidelines seriously and offered some advice for responsible quarantining, including “mandatory pants” and checking in on your loved ones.

And in that spirit, Kimmel checked in with Guillermo about keeping up daily routines during quarantine.

In the third installment, Kimmel wished his mom a happy birthday, blasted Trump’s “Chinese virus nonsense,” and announced that his first sponsor of the quarantine is none other than lentils. He also encouraged viewers to participate in something his family is trying called #FormalFriday.

Kimmel also spoke with Julia Louis-Dreyfus, who loves to bake but has “been forbidden from baking because everyone’s trying to eat healthy while we’re all quarantined up.”

They talked about keeping their sanity by getting out of the house when they can and ended up riffing on ATM safety and how Louis-Dreyfus’ own phone doesn’t recognize her when she’s “glammed up.”

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

“From Trevor’s couch in New York City to your couch somewhere in the world…”

Noah has shared a few personal updates with audiences, in videos riffing on the news and having fun with those viral videos of people singing from their balconies — except this time from New York.

And for the time being, Noah is the host of The Daily Social Distancing Show. In the first installment this week, Noah mocked President Trump’s comments at a coronavirus presser this week, saying, “Trump is the only person who could hold a press conference about a pandemic and then turn it into a fight about racism.”

He also checked in with correspondent Roy Wood Jr., who offered some important advice on how you can get tested right away: “Join the NBA.”

In episode two, Noah checked in on another Trump press conference (“every day he reminds us why hiring him was America’s biggest mistake”) and suggested the best thing POTUS can do right now to not make things worse is just be a “hype man” for the actual experts instead of continuing to “make shit up.”

Noah was joined this time by correspondent Jaboukie Young-White, who shared some grim stories about how his new best friend is his house plant and his “retweet-to-like ratio is down by half.”

Full Frontal With Samantha Bee

While all the other late night hosts have been broadcasting from home, Samantha Bee did something different: going full survivalist, checking in from a woodshed, and showing viewers how to chop their own wood.

She also called out the “unbleached assholes” hoarding supplies more than they need to.

In her second check-in from the wilderness, Bee stressed the importance of not only washing your hands, but also your hams.

Bee also shared some vital guidance for everyone stuck at home: “How to Not Kill Your Spouse During These Difficult Times.”

Conan

Conan O’Brien has actually been on hiatus, but the host confirmed this week he will be returning to air on March 30th with everyone working from home and guests Skyping in.

In the meantime, O’Brien has been sharing some important life hacks from home, including making sure to properly sanitize every single piece of a 1000-piece puzzle and the responsible way to take selfies with your favorite celebrities.

O’Brien also released a “very special self-quarantine” episode of his podcast Conan O’Brien Needs a Friend featuring comedian Andy Daly.

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One important thing late night hosts are doing is raising money for worthy causes to donate to if you can. We’re including the links below:

No Kid Hungry
Feeding America
Broadway Cares/Equity Fights AIDS
American Red Cross
Save the Children