All Of The Major Network Late Night Hosts Banded Together Last Night To Highlight Climate Change

In what might be the most prominent recent example of successfully reaching across the aisle, all of the major TV network late night hosts put their ratings and network competitions aside to highlight the fact that climate change is about to kill us all.

On Wednesday night, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, Samantha Bee, James Corden, and Jimmy Fallon put on a united front and dedicated their programs to the topic of climate change. But as The Hollywood Reporter wrote: “Despite the serious subject matter, this is late night—and as such, there were jokes.”

Indeed there were, and they started even earlier in the day. In a statement announcing the event, dubbed Climate Night, Kimmel flatly explained his reason for wanting to participate: “I don’t want to die.” The eco-conscious Fallon, meanwhile, asked that “In the interest of recycling, please use whatever Jimmy Kimmel said.”

Each show dedicated a portion, if not the bulk, of its program to discussing the importance of understanding climate change, and doing everything we can right now (or yesterday) to lessen the severity of its effects—unless, of course, you like the idea of regular 150° days as the new normal… in December.

Over on ABC, Kimmel reminded viewers that climate change is not a political issue, despite the most public of idiotic climate change deniers being members of the Republican party. Like the always-quotable Ted Cruz, who once moronically opined: “The problem with climate change is that there’s never been a day in the history of the world in which the climate is not changing.” He also welcomed Dr. Katharine Hayhoe, a professor of political science at Texas Tech University.

On NBC, Fallon kicked the night off with a visit from Dr. Jane Goodall, while Meyers’ “A Closer Look” segment talked about Bernie Sanders and the other progressive members of Congress who are working to get a $3.5 trillion spending plan approved that would address climate infrastructure and the increasing number of devastating wildfires, floods, and other catastrophic events.

On CBS, Colbert was “proud to dedicate one entire night of my show to the climate, so I can say I wasn’t part of the problem, I was 1/365th of the solution,” while Corden pulled in a major with a visit from Bill Gates (who likely prayed ahead of time that Jeffrey Epstein’s name would not be mentioned).

On TBS, Bee promised to do her part by powering the episode with her quads:

While over on Comedy Central, Noah welcomed teen dynamo Greta Thunberg as a guest, and also highlighted some of the lesser talked about effects of climate change—like decreased sex drives leading to smaller populations:

The unified event was planned as part of Climate Week NYC, which is happening right now. According to The Hollywood Reporter, the idea of bringing all of television’s late night hosts together belongs to Steve Bodow, The Daily Show’s former showrunner, who said that, “Late-night hosts reflect our national conversation even more than Russian Twitter bots set it—so this incredible group of shows coming together makes a statement about the scale and urgency of the world’s hottest problem.”

(Via The Hollywood Reporter)