This week's best in late-night: Bill Murray gives advice from the tub, Seth McFarlane sings impressions
This week in late-night television, the celebrity guests really upped the ante on their appearances! Just like the hosts who’ve found out of the box ways to present their shows remotely, many late-night guests are getting extra creative from their own homes.
ABC; NBC
Jimmy Fallon, known for games with his celebrity guests, has tried really hard to keep that same energy over video chat. To be honest, the attempts haven’t always landed. While I’m sure his new game “Hey Robot” is fun to play, trying to get Alexa to guess a specific word doesn’t translate well over for the audience watching at home.
But this week, The Tonight Show played a game with Family Guy creator and vocal master Seth McFarlane that had me in stitches. The pair played “One Song, Many Voices,” a musical game where the guest sings a song and changes impressions at Fallon’s request.
Now this is a game that translated perfectly from the studio to video chat and McFarlane absolutely nailed it with characters from Family Guy and a few other impressions. Bonus: go back and rewatch singer Alessia Cara play the same game last year in the studio with The Roots as backup. Amazing!
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Over on Conan, actor and comedian Ed Helms really sold the bit, “Quarantine Quonfessions” as he hilariously spilled his lockdown confessions. Honestly, Helms really made me pause and think, “What’s The Hangover baby doing these days?”
The bit was very similar to a sketch O'Brien used to play with his celebrity guests on Late Night with Conan O’Brien back in the '90s called “Secrets.” Similar to “Quonfessions,” “Secrets” allowed celebrities to spill their deepest, darkest, and hilarious inner thoughts. The vintage montage is definitely worth a rewatch!
The best of late night for the week goes to Bill Murrary’s appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live. Truthfully, Murray didn’t do anything fancy – no crazy sketch or over-the-top impressions. Just the actor fully dressed, giving Kimmel’s fans advice from his bathtub. And yes, the tub was filled with sudsy water.
We’ve seen the guests in regular clothing, we’ve gotten glimpses inside their lavish homes, but Murray’s appearance was just wildly different comparatively. Watching one of my favorite comedians carelessly drinking a bottle of champagne from his bathtub for millions of people screamed “vibes of the pandemic.”
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