Late-night TV host Jimmy Fallon announced that “The Tonight Show” will go live to debrief viewers on the first Democratic National Committee-hosted presidential primary debates on June 26 and June 27.
Who needs vetted analysis from major news corporations and experts in the field when Jimmy Fallon can tell you his opinion? Not that anyone asked for it.
“That’s the urgency that this event calls for,” said Jim Bell, an executive of “The Tonight Show.”
Bell is referencing the massive viewership of the 2015 primary debates leading up to the 2016 election.
“A Democratic debate — two of them no less — is now the kind of event that people collectively watch,” said Mike Shoemaker, a producer for “Late Night with Seth Meyers. “It’s not like all of a sudden we decided this was interesting. People became interested in it.”
But, as John Koblin at The New York Times pointed out, the man who elevated the interest of the American people — Trump — will not be on the stage in Miami during these first debates.
Regardless, not only is “The Tonight Show” preparing for its new coverage, but others like”The Daily Show” will be going live for two consecutive nights for the first time ever. Late-night shows are really looking to up their game.
While I understand the need to produce live content during times of instantaneous news, I do not think that investing in extended live-coverage of late-night TV will help these shows dramatically, if at all.
Viewers know exactly what they are getting when they watch “The Tonight Show” or “The Daily Show.” The comedian hosts of these shows will bash President Trump and boost whatever candidates speak the farthest-left agenda.
These shows will not bring any form of nuanced analysis, they will simply be the opinion of late-night talk show hosts spewing ideas from one side of the aisle. Why would viewers who do not hold the same radical perspectives as Fallon or Trevor Noah bother to turn on a show that will only tell them one side of the story?
Fallon’s show announced that it will be hosting Nikki Minaj as a “political palette cleanser,” and while that may be a great idea for those not interested in politics, why is it so critical that these shows air right after the DNC debates if they are supposedly not talking about politics?
One show is looking to add political nuance to the conversation — Stephen Colbert will host Rep. Alexandria Ocasio-Cortez and former New Jersey governor Chris Christie. It’s no surprise to see socialist darling AOC on this line-up, but the moderate Christie’s appearance only goes to show how little the late-night TV shows care about actual balance.
Perhaps notably, Republicans who are growing in popularity, such as Dan Crenshaw, will not be going on late-night TV during these upcoming nights.
It should come as no surprise that these late-night shows are grasping at any opportunity to increase their viewership. This past May, late-night TV was sliding in viewers, especially compared to Fox News’ late-night host Greg Gutfeld.