I like Jimmy Kimmel. When I run clips on YouTube, I watch him instead of Colbert or Meyers. He’s got a flexible tenor, high but firm, and he’s brisk about moving through the material. I like that—rat-a-tat, no messing around. Bad thing about Trump, bad thing about Trump, another bad thing about Trump, a few more, and that’s 15 minutes and eight seconds. A third of the show, not counting ads. No, the jokes aren’t funny. They’re more like jeers and talking points, but most of them hit the target and that’s all I ask. The Age of Trump has coarsened us all. I won’t cling to the minor but treasured art form that is American late-night comedy. I want the truth affirmed as noisily as possible, and for that I’ve got a slew of people but Kimmel’s probably the best.
Twenty years ago, 30 years, 40 years, late-night could be a beautiful thing, a source of bright spots in our sorry world: Colbert’s Word of the Day, O’Brien’s Masturbating Bear, the Letterman Afterschool Special about the boy who must face life after Manimal is canceled (sorry, no, it was Voyagers). These things exist, therefore we have a few more precious scattered reminders that life is more than a flat asphalt top of boredom. If somebody wants to be funny again, fine by me. But if they don’t, I’ve still got Jimmy Kimmel. Evidence that people see the Trump disaster for what it is and say so—I’ll take that. I take doses in Twitter form and smaller doses in clip form, and for clips Kimmel’s the best purveyor. Colbert’s voice is too thin and he has airs that take up time. Plus, there’s the memory of his greatness, which casts a film of sadness over the proceedings. Kimmel doesn’t have that problem. He’s probably at his best now. A man who runs on resentment, he’s found the perfect foil for his griping. Grinding his teeth into the president’s rump, Kimmel’s achieved a career peak.
Now Colbert’s been pushed out, Fallon’s always been useless, and Meyers is a bowl of dishwater. Stewart’s on just once a week, and anyway Kimmel averages two million viewers versus Stewart’s million or so. So Jimmy Kimmel is king of late-night. Johnny Carson’s 17 million viewers used to be a good stand-in for the American public. The combined nine million pieced together by Kimmel, Stewart, and the rest is far more narrow. It represents people in cities and suburbs that vote against the Republicans, one more of the specialty audiences that crowd today’s landscape. Its needs are simple at this point—bash Trump good and hard—and Kimmel fills them. So do a few thousand people on Twitter, but Kimmel’s on television and even now that’s a leg-up.
To recap: late-night’s devolved to a humble niche audience, this niche operation must act as a car alarm against the regime’s violations of the civic order, Jimmy Kimmel is the most functional component of the car alarm, therefore Jimmy Kimmel’s the king of late-night and guardian of the Republic and everything’s going to hell, especially jokes but also the country.