It’s Annie with an I, not Anne with E.
Photo: The Tonight Show, starring Jimmy Fallon / YouTube
Well, well, well, would you look at that? A week after inciting a violent riot on Capitol Hill, Donald Trump made history by becoming the only president to face two charges of impeachment. Congratulations, Donald, you really deserved this one. Early morning television was presented with that last crumb of drama to bury in Trump as it transitions from the Trump era to the Biden years, and it seems that change is in the air. NBC’s A little late with Lilly Singh returned this week for the first time since the pandemic began, with a brand new writer’s room and a renewed quarantine aesthetic. Let’s see which early-morning clips stood out in this last week of Trump as president.
Everyone loves good (fake) gossip, and Stephen Colbert is no exception. This week, Late Show featured a previously recorded segment in which the queer icon Aubrey Plaza poured the proverbial tea on his former castmates called “Tea at the Plaza”, of course. Plaza, armed with a cup of tea (would love to see an actor wearing his own accessories), started talking about previous co-stars like Amy Poehler, Zac Efron and Robert De Niro, happily spreading absurd and false rumors about them. The tea at Poehler? “She sleeps with a Justin Bieber doll between her legs every night,” said Plaza, adding “What an asshole” to complete. Plaza continued to note that Zac Efron has “the smallest teeth [she’s] already seen ”, which will come out of his mouth and go down your throat if you are lucky enough to shoot a kiss scene with him. And De Niro apparently likes to dress like a postman and deliver mail, although “he is not qualified to do that”. Pit stop at the Plaza in O Late Show it served as a good reminder that although Colbert has carved out a niche for himself as one of the most aggressive political hosts in the morning, he can still be fun outside the political realm. Also, good for Miss Piggy for doing the job on her tail, if that’s what she wants. Your body, your choice.
Back in the political realm, the last days of the Trump administration are somehow ending with a bang and a groan, as Republicans quietly try to distance themselves from their instigating president and twice impeachment. Full Front he was simply not accepting and devoted a two-part segment to the so-called Republicans aptly called “It’s a little too late for Republicans to report Trump.” Bee started the segment by shouting Eugene Goodman, the Black Capitol police officer who effectively redirected an angry crowd away from the Senate. Wow, an officer called “Goodman” saving the day? You just can’t make these things up! Bee went on to call not only the rebels, but also the 147 members of Congress who voted to overturn the election results. “They were happy to support Trump when he was helping them cut taxes for the rich and fill the Supreme Court with these corn adults,” joked Bee. I believe the real Children of the Corn he would have the good sense to report Trump well before he incited a deadly riot – they are scary, but they are not stupid.
After almost a year off the air, A little late is back and maybe better than ever. The entire show was completely remodeled while in quarantine, with an entirely new team of screenwriters headed by Chelsea Davidson. The studio audience was replaced by “a Los Angeles-based home,” and Singh’s whole vibe is now much more identifiable with YouTuber than with the host of the evening show, which is giving rise to her as, well , an incredibly successful YouTuber. So it makes sense that one of your first guests is a YouTuber like Brie Larson. On Tuesday, Larson showed up at Singh’s house, and after receiving some helpful YouTube best practice advice from Singh (you have to tell your viewers to like and subscribe after each video!), Larson made a serenade for Singh with some musical interpretations from his YouTube rudest comments. That was fun, because any self-respecting person knows that before becoming an Oscar-winning actress, Larson was an aspiring musician whose fake band was the best thing about Scott Pilgrim against the world. Things seem to be trending (YouTube pun absolutely intentional) in a positive direction for Miss. Singh!
One of the things I miss most in life before panDemi Lovato is going to a party and meeting someone incredibly interesting that you will almost certainly never see again, or if you do it will be totally random and completely unexpected and a pleasant surprise. In Wednesday’s episode of Jimmy Kimmel Live!, I finally got a taste of that sensation again when Kimmel spoke to Frederick “Freddie the Stoner” Miller again, an affable young man who had been on the show a year earlier while waiting in line for the opening of the first marijuana dispensary in Michigan. Since sharing his plan to sit on the couch, smoke a bowl and watch the new Dracula on Netflix (he heard good things!) with Kimmel about a year ago, Freddie has done a lot and, as fate wanted, now works as a weed ambassador for Cannavista Wellness in Buchanan, Michigan. When asked how he ended up working at a cannabis store, Freddie said his 30 seconds of fame in Jimmy Kimmel Live! last year changed his life for the better. “I went to your show man, and the next thing I know, I’m getting calls from dispensaries left and right,” says Miller. “I mean, Jimmy, I was, like, unemployed living with my mom – God bless her,” says Miller before starting what can only be described as the perfect stoner’s laugh. Wow, dreams really do come true.
Everyone has the right to be called by whatever name they want or wish, and Ann (i) and Hathaway are finally exercising that right. On Tuesday, the actress formerly known as Anne went through The Tonight Show and revealed that she preferred to be called Annie. “Can we talk about my name for a second?” she said before starting the saga about how Annie became Anne. Apparently, when she was 14 she was in a commercial (of course she booked), and on her SAG card she chose to use her real first name, Anne, instead of the nickname she uses, Annie. A beginner’s mistake. “Feel free to call me anything but Anne,” she told Fallon. As someone with a confused name experience – my first name is * sigh * Derek, but I always used my middle name, Chris – I feel for Annie, but I must say that this change is a little difficult for me. I saw Anne Hathaway in The Princess Diaries 2: Royal Engagement in a shopping mall with my cousins in OBX. I read about the time when Anne Hathaway sent a poached egg back to the kitchen not once, not twice, not three times, but four times and thoughts, Atta girl. I defended Anne Hathaway’s performance as Fantine (she kills) in (underrated) The miserable film for my best friend in college and we haven’t spoken for about three weeks (in the end we decided to agree to disagree). But now, I have to say goodbye to all of that, and so do you. So, goodbye to Anne Hathaway, and nice to meet Annie Hathaway. It’s like Donny Hathaway, but with an Ann (e).
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