Late-night writers share highlights from 2017
The top jokes and sketches from a wild year, according to the comedians behind them
Talk about a wild year. A former reality TV star became president. Decades-long careers ended amid an avalanche of sexual misconduct allegations. News cycles moved faster than a Twitter feed. Basically, latenight hosts had a lot to work with in 2017. We asked writers of the top daily late-night shows to pick some of their favourite sketches, jokes or moments of the year and explain how they came to be.
The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon
Jessica Chastain in “every audition ever”
Guest Jessica Chastain has been vocal about the treatment of women in Hollywood, and “after talking for a while about all the sexism we have seen in the industry, this idea seemed to just appear,” said writers Jasmine Pierce and Taryn Englehart. In the sketch, Chastain repeats a simple line during a casting call but impressively shifts her delivery based on the director’s sexist requests. (“Can you try it again? But hot.”)
The Late Show With Stephen Colbert
A live show monologue after Trump’s address to Congress
Colbert hosted a live show after U.S. President Donald Trump concluded his first joint address to Congress, which gave The Late Show about an hour to write a monologue. “Imagine getting all of your friends together in one room, then sitting there quietly trying to think of jokes while an angry old man yells at them,” wrote Late Show writers Opus Moreschi and Jay Katsir. Former Obama speech writer Josh Earnest, a guest that night, sat with writers as they watched Trump, offering insights and even pitching a few jokes.
Jimmy Kimmel Live
Kimmel on Senator Bill Cassidy’s health-care bill
Jimmy Kimmel became the latenight face of the health-care debate this year with an emotional monologue about his newborn son Billy’s heart condition. The plea from Kimmel to protect people with pre-existing conditions inspired Sen. Bill Cassidy to create “The Jimmy Kimmel Test” for future legislation, which “surprised and honoured” the show, said co-head writer Molly McNearney. But Cassidy’s subsequent proposal drew heat from Kimmel, who said on air that the senator had failed his own test. “We had to hold him accountable,” said McNearney, who is also Kimmel’s wife and Billy’s mother.
Conan
“The Cursed Fedora of La La Land”
“Around the time of the Oscars, we typically do a roundup where we slightly alter scenes from nominated movies: changing audio, inserting a shot, etc.,” Todd Levin wrote. “I was sort of obsessed with a very inconsequential moment in La La Land.” Ryan Gosling sits on a pier and finds a fedora, then walks past a couple and gives the hat to the man. Levin, frustrated by the randomness of the scene, “pitched something that ended up being one of the most ambitious — and stupid — shoots I’ve ever done at Conan.” The pre-recorded short featured the couple, who are Black, showing the hat to a friend. “It’s bad luck,” the man says. “Don’t you know when a white boy puts a hat on you, that’s a curse?” the woman adds. The fedora ends up haunting them.
The Daily Show With Trevor Noah
“Pro-life Congressman Tim Murphy Aborts His Career”
Staunchly anti-abortion Rep. Tim Murphy became embroiled in scandal in October when news reports said he had asked the woman with whom he had had an extramarital affair to have an abortion.
“It was so beautifully hypocritical,” said writer Kat Radley. In a morning meeting, writers watched a clip of Murphy saying he was going to finish his time in office but not seek reelection. “I then said something to the effect, ‘Oh, well that’s nice he’s allowing his time in office to come to term.’ It eventually became the joke on which we decided to end.” But later in the day, “we were thrown a curveball” when Murphy announced he’d actually end his tenure early. “But we were still able to use the metaphor by changing the punchline to say, ‘It’s such a pity Tim Murphy terminated his career before it came to term.’ ”
Late Night With Seth Meyers “Amber’s Late Night Safe Space” In the middle of a particularly depressing news cycle of racist protests, writer Amber Ruffin recalled, “I had come to the end of my rope, honestly. I didn’t want to talk about anything.” So, she thought, “what if I took Seth to my safe space, a space I had created for myself, where white people couldn’t touch your hair and you couldn’t mention any freaking, horrible news stories?” She and Jenny Hagel wrote a sketch about Ruffin taking refuge in a room painted pink and full of her favourite things: soft carpeting, cake, margaritas and pictures of Maxine Waters.
The Late Late Show With James Corden
“The Stranger Things Kids Were Nearly a Motown Super Group”
James Corden came up with the idea of singing a Motown medley with the stars of Netflix’s Stranger Things and writers developed a mockumentary-type sketch about the faux singing group’s back story. They went through three or four drafts with Corden, aiming for a fastpaced sketch to get to the performance quickly.
“We also had a very short time with the kids to rehearse the songs, learn the choreography, shoot the sketch and talking heads, then shoot the Motown medley live in front of an audience, so the script had to be tight,” Nedaa Sweiss said. The final package became a viral hit (eight million YouTube views and counting) and revealed the kids’ singing chops.