Why Late Night TV Matters: Insights from Colbert, Kimmel, Fallon, Oliver, and Meyers
Stephen Colbert, along with fellow late-night hosts Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, and John Oliver, gathered on Colbert’s Late Show to celebrate the program ahead of its final episode on May 21. During the segment, Colbert humorously noted, “Jon Stewart is the designated survivor tonight – someone has to survive for the president to be mad at.”
The reunion, dubbed the “Strike Force Five,” was filled with playful banter and heartfelt tributes. Kimmel quipped, “I figured out why you lost $40 million, Stephen. There’s too many in your band.” Meyers, equipped with an iPad for sound effects, drew laughter when Oliver compared him to a kid “with a tambourine.”
Kimmel explained the origin of the “Strike Force Five” name, referring to their joint podcast, created during a Writers Guild strike. The group also recorded a special “emergency episode” of the podcast that night.
Colbert raised the possibility of being kicked out of the group due to his show’s cancellation, jokingly referencing the (non-existent) special health insurance they share. Meyers replied, “You’re out. It’s Strike Force Four. It breaks our heart, but it’s like gerrymandering – nobody likes it, but once the courts rule…”
Kimmel interjected, “Don’t worry, give me a few months and it’ll be Strike Force Three.”
Amid concerns for the future of late-night television, Colbert prompted his guests to advocate for the genre.
Kimmel noted, “More people are watching late-night television now than when— and I know everybody gets crazy— but when Johnny Carson… Obviously, Johnny Carson had a lot of people watching one show, but we have a lot of shows with 30,000 people watching each one, and it adds up. And people watch us on YouTube now, and people have a lot of different options, and yet they still keep coming to us.”
He added, “I will tell you when I got knocked off the air for a few days, people canceled Disney+. Why aren’t you people canceling Paramount+? Because you didn’t have it in the first place?”
Oliver jokingly defended Paramount+, stating, “Jimmy, until the deal goes through, if I could just do a counter to that, Paramount+ might have some good programming. Unless it doesn’t go through, in which case it can go f*ck itself.”
Reflecting on their roles, Fallon remarked, “I never thought it was a job when I was growing up. I just thought Johnny Carson came with the television set. People want to go to sleep having a good laugh, go to bed happy.”
When Colbert asked the group if they had ever envisioned a job that garnered strong opinions from a president, Kimmel replied, “You know what’s even weirder? We’re doing a job that his wife has strong feelings about it.”
Meyers chimed in, “Most of us have avoided that part,” to which Fallon added, “That’s why you’re at the end of the couch.”
The full segment is available for viewing above.
