The efforts to stop the coronavirus from spreading have become very real and intense in the past couple of weeks. Two of the most important factors in keeping everyone healthy have been hand washing and the practice of self-isolation and social distancing, meaning that there's been a crack down on folks gathering in big groups. This has led to production shutdowns around Hollywood, and many shows with audiences are now going without, including our favorite late night talk shows. So, hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are starting to get very creative, and do some fun things with monologues.
About a week ago, all of the major late night talk shows decided to forgo live audiences. This ended up being a solid move that would pre-date orders from local governments that either prohibit or strongly discouraged large gatherings, but it meant that the opening monologues were going to miss the energy they usually got from having crowds gathered around to giggle, gasp and applaud at the start of each show. Of course, now these shows have joined many others and simply suspended production, but Fallon, Colbert and Kimmel have now decided to take their monologues home to give people some levity.
Let's start with Fallon, who performed from some kind of recreation room in his home, introduced us to his wife, daughter and dog, and gave us the reasoning behind The Tonight Show: At Home Edition via YouTube. Take a look:
I mean, I already like what I'm seeing here. Sure, it's a bit weird to see Jimmy Fallon not wearing a suit and presenting jokes and a song to us as his wife barely laughs at his efforts, but I think that's all part of the charm. Obviously, we're not going to get a full version of The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon right now, but I think it was a very good idea for him to put together a little something to help entertain us as we self-isolate. Plus, as you can see, he's going to be encouraging donations to different charities every night, which will also help lots of people.
Jimmy Fallon wasn't alone in taking the entertainment home. The Late Show with Stephen Colbert took a slightly different tack, but still presented us with a delightfully silly monologue to help give us some joy and peace, and ensure us that we're doing the right thing by staying the hell home:
Oh, Stephen Colbert, I think I love you. Look at this man, getting into a suit and diving into his bathtub with more bubbles than I've seen in any real tub ever. I really enjoyed the effort to explain why staying at home is so important right now, not to mention the jokes based on key things that have happened with the coronavirus recently, which, (sorry Jimmy) landed just fine without an audience to keep viewers pumped.
Over at Jimmy Kimmel Live!, ABC's Jimmy would not be left out of the work from home late night host pack, so he'll also be doing what he calls mini monologues every day until the world gets back to something that looks a bit more like normal. Unfortunately, it sounds like he was unprepared for so much home time with the fam:
OK, thank you Jimmy Kimmel. You know what, to be totally honest, I liked that way more than a standard episode of his actual talk show. But, who knows, maybe that's my sign that cabin fever is setting in and I need to go out to my deck and breathe in some fresh, but still non-peopley, air. Ugh, it's raining...never mind. Back to Netflix and YouTube videos!
Jimmy Fallon, Stephen Colbert and Jimmy Kimmel are doing the hard work here, people. So the least we can all do is stay at home as much as possible, wash our hands, and in the words of Kimmel "wash your feet, wash everything...not just during this time, wash all the time." And, when you're done with that, be sure to check out our 2020 midseason guide and Netflix guide to see what's been airing new, and stay tuned for the latest news on everything that's being delayed. Stay safe, folks!
