What Makes A Late Night Video Go Viral?

All this week, Uproxx‘s Late Night Week will take a look at late-night past, present, and future, from talk shows to late-night comedy, and beyond. With streaming becoming an increasingly important part of late night, this piece takes a look at what makes a clip take off online.

In the new landscape of late night television, clicks count.

For many viewers, late night has become a morning-after industry. Fewer and fewer people, especially those in the coveted 18-49 demo, are tuning in when these shows actually air. Instead, they’re watching short segments the day after, when they’re available on Hulu, YouTube, or covered by big news outlets hoping to push fresh content early in the morning.

Sure, ratings still matter most — Nielsen’s not going out of business anytime soon — but when it comes to judging the success of current late night talk shows, a show’s ability to go viral has come to play a major role. Viral viability makes a show noteworthy, relevant; it can elevate a bottom of the barrel program through the ranks. The potential to trend on social media translates to a new, often bigger audience viewing that show’s material. And in some cases, when a show’s ratings begin to fall, its social media contribution can even mean life or death (see The Nightly Show with Larry Wilmore as proof of the latter).

But what exactly makes a late night video go viral?

The anatomy of a viral late night video often varies depending on the show, the host and the content but most clips racking up views on YouTube these often have a few key ingredients.

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A Game Show Element

Jimmy Fallon’s probably the best example of what it looks like when you inject scripted comedy into late night, leaning heavily on skits, pre-rehearsed parodies and game show segments.

You can find these kinds of clips gracing The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon’s YouTube channel on a daily basis, and many of the most successful are those that pit Fallon and a celebrity guest of the night against each other. Maybe they’re dueling it out dubsmashing, playing a round of “Slapjack,” or pouring water down each other’s pants.

These clips play well because Fallon has found a way to shake up the system. As a host, he’s not equipped to ask probing questions of his guests and probably doesn’t want to. Instead, he asked his guests to entertain, which immediately put celebrities at ease. While most actors, actresses and musicians hate promoting their work by answering mundane, repetitive sometimes personal questions, they all seem to enjoy performing, especially for a live audience.

The Tonight Show‘s Lip Sync Battle is a perfect example. Where previously Fallon had relied upon his sketch comedy skills and his good pal Justin Timberlake to pull in views, Lip Sync Battle has provided a formula guaranteed to go viral no matter whom the celebrity of the night might be. A famous face, a ridiculous tune – Paul Rudd belting out a Tina Turner classic or Melissa McCarthy cranking out a DMX rap – and a crowned winner was all it took for the segment to take off. Emma Stone raked in over 75 million views for her two performances – the most viewed video in The Tonight Show’s arsenal to date. (The musical competition was so popular it eventually received its own spin off on Spike.)

Watching reality competitions on TV has become a national pastime so it’s a no-brainer that people would enjoy watching celebrities battle against each other. There’s also the added bonus of seeing a famous face made a little more human – the idea that Ariana Grande can do a great Celine Dion impression or Selena Gomez likes to dubsmash, that Stone likes Blues Traveler or that Daniel Radcliffe can rap “Alphabet Aerobics” – these are things that make people we’ve idolized seem more relatable.

The Audience Tie-In

If Fallon is the fanboy who likes to host party games during his hour, Kimmel is his antithesis – a comedian who prefers to poke fun at his guests (and often his audience) instead of hamming it up with them on stage. Kimmel owes much of his brand of comedy to David Letterman, another host who kept the celebrities stopping by his desk at arm’s-length. Letterman sported a distinct distaste for fame and those who had it. Kimmel’s not as averse to interacting with A-Listers – quite a few of them are his friends too – but he’s able to inject a healthy dose of snark into his meetings with the actors and actresses gracing his stage. Kimmel’s brand of viral isn’t sketch comedy; it doesn’t rely on him having a good-natured relationship with his guests. Instead, he’s found a way to engage with the audience through videos that call for real submissions from people who watch his show.

The two segments that get the most viral bang for the buck on Kimmel’s YouTube channel are curated from his fans’ contributions. A few years ago, the host introduced a new series, one in which he had parents lie to their children the day after Halloween, telling kids that the adults had eaten all of their hard-earned candy. It’s a simple, clever idea, one that garnered thousands of submissions. Kimmel’s team edited a handful of clips together into a short under five minute videos of kids crying, screaming, cursing and in some cases, getting violent over their believed lack of sugared goods, squeezed it in at the beginning of the show, and saw it take off the next day on social media.

Was that bit intended to be funny for a live audience? Sure. But the people at Jimmy Kimmel Live! knew that the relevance of the video (it’s played shortly after Halloween) paired with the user-generated element and the promise of seeing kids lose their shit over candy wasn’t just comedy gold, it was a guaranteed recipe for viral success. Kimmel labeled these videos as YouTube Challenges – a word that immediately resonates with people, inviting them to join in, to contribute, to post the best video. The concept has allowed him to capitalize on a viewer’s desire to be a part of their own TV watching experience. It invited people to play pranks on their own children and teased the possibility of seeing themselves and their family on TV.

Kimmel’s Mean Tweets bit – a segment that features celebrities reading nasty social media posts about themselves on camera – also scores big thanks to audience engagement. (Maybe that callous joke you tweeted two months ago about Drake looking like a ferret with a baby afro will actually be read by him on air.) There’s also the added element of seeing celebrities game enough to make fun of themselves. Some of the tweets they’re forced to read are humiliating, hurtful and downright offensive, but the crueler the tweets, the more viral the video.

The Pre-Taped Clip

Some of Fallon’s sketch parodies are pre-taped but the man dominating the late night viral videosphere in terms of pre-taped segments is James Corden. Corden came onto the scene in the U.S. a little over a year ago – a British actor with no real hosting experience. In the span of just a few months, he went from being the no-name replacement to Craig Ferguson to one of late night’s most prominent faces, a guy who’s won two Emmys, hosted the 2016 Tony Awards and is set to command the stage at the upcoming Grammys.

Corden’s not succeeding because he’s a good interviewer – though he should get some credit for ditching the desk and requiring all of his guests to sit on the couch at the same time. And he’s certainly not gaining viewers thanks to his stand-up chops. Instead, he’s capitalizing on his biggest strength – his musical background. When the show first introduced Carpool Karaoke, it was on a whim. Corden had done a similar bit back in the U.K., driving around with George Michael in a car singing Wham! tunes in a Comic Relief sketch that had gotten some play.

In hindsight it was the perfect vehicle for Corden, who got his start in theater. He wasn’t a strict stand-up comedian and had limited hosting experience but he could sing. When Mariah Carey was booked as a guest in the early days of Corden’s Late Late Show but couldn’t make it into the studio for her scheduled interview, the host decided to revive the bit. He roped Carey into riding through L.A. traffic in a car set up with cameras while the pair sang along to the artist’s biggest hits. The video blew up on social media the day after the show aired and prompted Corden to invite other musically inclined guests along for a ride. Jennifer Hudson, Stevie Wonder, Sia, Justin Bieber: They all got in the car with Corden and they all posted big numbers for the show on social media. But it was another Brit, Adele, that shattered ratings. Her car ride with Corden drew in 135 million views, the most of any late night video to date.

Corden’s idea, much like Kimmel’s, is brilliant because it’s so simple. Fallon works hard setting up his skits, rehearsing his History of Rap and Evolution of Dance medleys and his guests put in the effort, too, when they compete in his party games. The reason Carpool Karaoke works is because it’s just Corden – a likable character who’s a fanboy, like Fallon, but one who’s also able to command control, to interact with celebrities like they’re real people. His guests are at ease because there’s no live audience, no camera crew or stage direction – just them, the host and a car ride. It’s why Corden can convince Adele to rap a Nicki Minaj verse, get Jennifer Hudson to sing her order in a Burger King drive-thru, or convince Jennifer Lopez to address ridiculous butt implant rumors while prank texting Leonardo DiCaprio. Sure, some parts of the bit are probably rehearsed, but the segment as a whole feels authentic, which is a word we don’t often use when talking about late night talk shows.

The Takedown

The big names in late night – Fallon, Kimmel and Corden – are fluff comics. Sure they’ll poke fun at politics, their guests, or themselves in a monologue or during an interview, but that’s the extent of their social commentary. They get views based on silliness, humor, and fun – not on serious comedy, the kind that informs while entertaining.

But another segment of late night hosts forego games, skits, and YouTube challenges in favor of using their time behind the desk to check and balance politicians and institutions and to use their comedy to draw attention to topics not often covered by mainstream media. John Oliver, Samantha Bee, Seth Meyers and others combine in-depth investigative reporting with high-quality comedy. Their videos don’t follow the normal viral format: they aren’t short – some of Oliver’s best takedowns like his Donald Drumpf segment can be 20 minutes long. They don’t feature a famous face. And they’re certainly not inspirational. (Listening to Bee recite the racist, sexist history of the religious right doesn’t bring anyone warm, fuzzy feelings.)

They’re going viral for a completely different set of reasons, most of which hinge on the audience they’re intended for – younger, politically minded socially active adults – and the type of content they supply. For Bee, whose Full Frontal With Samantha Bee airs once a week on TBS, the focus is social taboos with a decidedly feminist angle – she’s covered everything from abortion to gun control with her signature brand of scathing commentary-style comedy honed during her time on The Daily Show With Jon Stewart.

Another Daily Show alum, Oliver is making a name for himself on HBO, drawing record breaking numbers for the network thanks to his lengthy analytical deep-dives into seemingly obscure topics – Miss America pageants, televangelists, net neutrality, they’ve all been covered by the host and drawn big numbers for his YouTube channel. Similarly, Meyers has taken what he learned manning the Weekend Update desk for SNL to his own late night desk. His “A Closer Look” series regularly makes the rounds on social media the morning after they air. They’re informative, snappy and not willing to pull punches when it comes to putting politicians, celebrities and big businesses on blast.

These kind of clips are going viral because they provide a service. They’re informing the public (who, let’s face it gets a lot of its news, fake or otherwise, from social media) and making them laugh at the same time. During an election year that’s had many avoiding media outlets like Fox News, CNN and MSNBC, these shows offer a different slice of news story, one that clearly takes a stand on an issue, reports facts, combines humor with relevancy and more often than not, goes for the jugular.

Competition often breeds quality and when it comes to late night, there are plenty of sharks circling the waters, all hunting the proverbial throne. The old kings of late night — the Jay Lenos, Johnny Carsons, David Lettermans — only had to worry about the seats in front of the stage and the people watching at home. The internet’s changed that metric for success. On the one hand, the web’s become a place where people who may have never watched Last Week Tonight with John Oliver or even heard of James Corden now regularly tune into their brand of comedy. On the other hand, it means shows must work even harder to create original content that plays on social media — because if it’s not being talked about there, it’s dying a bit already.

Going viral is never a sure thing and though hosts like Fallon, Corden, Kimmel, Oliver, and Meyers seem to have a handle on what their respective audiences prefer – dumb comedy, witty commentary, celebrities doing weird sh*t – what hits today may not play tomorrow. That’s the nature of the game, and why shows have to keep coming up with new bits, new ways to entice those morning-after viewers – the future of late night TV. But the working formula for viral late night videos seems to rely in equal parts on celebrity draw, informative content and the likability of a show’s host. And comedy: The damned things have to be funny.

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