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LOS ANGELES — They were fierce rivals — until President Trump turned them into allies.
Three of late-night’s most durable hosts took part in a rare collaboration after President Donald Trump hurled a few verbal zingers at the wee-hours crowd at a rally Monday night in South Carolina.
Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien joined together in a sketch that — in what may be a first — served as the “cold open” to both Tuesday night’s broadcast of “The Late Show” on CBS and “The Tonight Show” on NBC. O’Brien’s “Conan,” broadcast on TBS, is on hiatus this week.
In the bit, Colbert is spotted typing up a monologue at his computer, only to be interrupted by a video call from Fallon. “Hey, lowlife,” says Fallon. “Hey, lost soul,” replies Colbert. Both comics were referring to some of the epithets Trump used to insult them as well as their ABC rival, Jimmy Kimmel.
After the pair hash out all the different names Trump used, they decide to call O’Brien. They find him shaving, and surprised to learn Trump inhabits the Oval Office. He urges them to be civil. Fallon and Colbert decide to go out to lunch at the Red Hen, the Virginia restaurant that recently asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave.
The sketch shows just how much late-night has changed since Trump became President in 2017. Many of the hosts — Colbert, Kimmel, Samantha Bee, Trevor Noah — have found ratings and audience growth by poking fun at Trump in blunt terms. In some cases, their antics have spilled out on to social media or sparked backlash, such as a recent advertiser boycott of Bee’s program on TBS.
Fallon has not embraced political humor as tightly, but in recent days, even he has railed against Trump. The President recently used Twitter to tell the NBC host to “be a man” after he appeared to complain in a recent Hollywood Reporter podcast that his decision to have Trump on as a guest during his campaign has offended some viewers. “As you may have heard, last night, the President of the United States went after me on Twitter,” Fallon said during his monologue Monday night. “So Melania, if you’re watching, I don’t think your anti-bullying campaign is working.”
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