Seth Meyers’s Cavalcade of SNL Writers Won Late Night

Okay, not a week in late night, more of a fortnight. Last week, the CBS late-night shows were off, but the NBCUniversal shows had all the heavy hitters of Saturday Night Live plugging the big 50th extravaganza. This week, there were no NBC shows and no Kimmel, but Last Week Tonight and Have I Got News for You both returned. You know we had to talk about it all.

Before we get into the top five of the fortnight, I want to shout out The Late Show With Stephen Colbert’s most frequent guest, John Oliver. Oliver was adorably giggly on his 20th Colbert appearance, the pair seemingly delirious from having to cover one of the worst moments in American history. When Colbert said people watch Last Week Tonight to relax, Oliver reacted with horror. “That’s like stabbing yourself to calm down,” he said. This prompted me to create a little spot to recognize some of the crazier things people said on late night these past two weeks:

➽ “I wanted to learn how to take marijuana.” — Justin Theroux
➽ “The dander be coming off the balls.” — Roy Wood Jr.
➽ “This whole week is sponsored by bad Lorne impressions.” — Seth Meyers
➽ “My goal is to make smoking cool again.” — George Clooney

Now to the ranking.

After Midnight Butches Up a Hair Salon

Monét X Change and the boys of Dicks: The Musical yelling incoherently about masculinity? Sign me up. The Drag Race alum joined Josh Sharp and Aaron Jackson pitching ways hair salons could butch it up, and it is a delight. My favorite moment is when Jackson screams, “Wild dogs roam the salon. Don’t look at them, don’t look at them!” My only note is that it should have been two times longer and five times louder. Just peaking the levels repeatedly.

David Letterman Kinda Sorta Hosts The Tonight Show

As part of the SNL50 festivities, Paul Shaffer joined The Tonight Show band. Yes, the only person to have portrayals in all three NBCEU movies: Saturday Night, A Futile and Stupid Gesture, and The Late Shift. Speaking of The Late Shift, it’s kind of messed up that Shaffer got to be bandleader on The Tonight Show but Letterman never hosted. Joke’s on me, because Dave crashed the show and slapped Lonnie Donegan Jimmy Fallon repeatedly with tortillas. Why? It’s apparently a TikTok trend. It’s always fun seeing old crank Letterman perform with the energy he had as a young crank, and Fallon is a gracious host.

Lizzy Caplan Talks Hole

I watch a lot of late night. I’m legally obligated to. And it’s rare that a guest can appear on a talk show and make me go, “Damn, that’s an anecdote.” But Lizzy Caplan did it last week on Jimmy Kimmel Live! Caplan’s discussion of finding a new waxer has everything: the gesture of spreading butt cheeks, jokes about Robert De Niro getting a Brazilian, and one helluva closer about her opening.

The Ladies of SNL Embody the Ladies of SLC

This is a Clubhouse Playhouse for the ages. Some of the she-GOATs of Saturday Night Live (Laraine Newman, Rachel Dratch, Cheri Oteri, Ana Gasteyer, and Cecily Strong) re-creating the Sprinter van fight from Real Housewives of Salt Lake City season five is incredible. Such intensity, such commitment, so many women shouting so semi-coherently. Gasteyer runs away with the piece, even though Oteri is the one who winds up dropping a F-bomb on live TV.

A Hero’s Welcome for SNL’s Writers

Late Night With Seth Meyers had a whole holy host of Saturday Night Live writers on leading up to the anniversary special. Harper Steele bragged about getting a real joint on live TV when it was still illegal. Emily Spivey reminisced about Mick Jagger’s butt crack. And James Anderson sang his “Gator World” song with Meyers, years after the sketch died at dress rehearsal. For comedy nerds, these writers are like shiny Pokémon, and it was such a thrill to catch them all. But the one that had me crying laughing was Paula Pell showing off her vibrator and talking about letting her cat out in a bakery while fully sleep-deprived from writing night. Thank you, Seth Meyers, for having these people on the show. And thank you, thank you, thank you, props department, for sourcing a fake memoir and discreet Magic Bullet for Pell.