The Best TV Shows on TV – Special Late Night Edition

We here at spunkybean know as well as anyone that there’s a lot of great stuff on TV these days, and not just in primetime!  We feel like there’s an embarrassment of riches in late night talk, even though we can’t always stay up late enough to enjoy it all live.  Thankfully, the internet is here to help in that regard, and we couldn’t be happier to share some of our favorites with you.

The Daily Show–John Stewart was accused of racism this week by none other than Donald Trump, who you might recall has a great relationship with “the blacks”.  Jon reacted to Trump’s b.s.–for his goof on Herman Cain’s lame reply to sexual harassment allegations–with his signature humor and bemusement.  He isn’t afraid to point out that Trump, despite his money, power and connections, is often times an uninformed dope (yeah, we said it), who either didn’t watch the bit at all or just didn’t get the absurdity Jon was pointing out in the first place.  Cain was asked if he’d ever paid any settlements in sexual harassment cases, and his answer was, “Outside of the Restaurant Association, no.”  Jon said this was like responding to the question of whether or not you’ve ever kidnapped a baby with the reply, “Other than the Lindbergh baby, no.”  Trump objected to the voice Stewart used, which was more akin to Thurston Howell than anything, and, Jon pointed out, not even the most offensive voice in the bit.  He and his cohorts then went on to riff on “our blacks” versus “their blacks” (and that debate’s originator, Anne Coulter), which has to be seen to be believed.

The Colbert Report – In a week that had Stephen looking at the Herman Cain allegations, sexy Halloween costumes, ghost sex and more, the best moments came when Stephen decided to see if he could become the voice of theOccupy Wall Street movement.  First he went “undercover”, and then he interviewed a couple of protestors in a luxury penthouse suite.  Not only was it a funny bit of TV, with Stephen remaining in character and trying to rattle them in ways that made him look like a bad person, but it was an interesting look at the movement.  The two interviewees are a little flaky (One of them is named “Ketchup”!), but they are basically good-hearted and committed.

Part One:

Part Two:

Late Night with Jimmy Fallon – Justin Timberlake was back on his old pal Jimmy Fallon’s show to promote his movie In Time, and the duo surprised us all with another installment in what is now going to be known as the History of Rap Trilogy.  Each edition has its merits, and quite frankly, we can’t pick a clear favorite.  Which one do you like best?  The interview that followed was also a classic (who else can pull off dueling Michael Jacksons like Jimmy and JT?), and we’d really love more than anything just to go grab a drink with these two and shoot the breeze.

In case you’ve missed these little gems, we collected them all for you in one handy location to be enjoyed together.  So, put your hand in the air and wave it like you just don’t care.  A’ight?

History of Rap Part One

History of Rap Part Two (Hip Hop)

History of Rap Part Three (The Trilogy!)

Jimmy also does a lot of fabulous impressions.  Some of his best are of musicians, since he’s a decent one in his own right.  Here was his very timely Justin Beiber spoof this week, a take on one of the singer’s big hits adapted to address his very public paternity scandal:

Justin Beiber: (It’s Not My) Baby

Jimmy Kimmel Live – Late night’s other Jimmy, Mr. Kimmel, is also often spot on with his take on the day’s headlines, using his dry wit and sharp eye to poke fun at pop culture’s big stories.  This one aired on Halloween (hence, his costume) and he got right to the point:

Conan – Conan O’Brien had an excellent week, as he brought his show to New York.  We’d recommend visiting www.teamcoco.com for all of the clips, because he spent the week doing some hilarious video pieces (including Conan spending an afternoon delivering Chinese food and doing a terrible job of it).  Old favorites like the Masturbating Bear and Triumph the Insult Comic Dog returned, with Triumph visiting Occupy Wall Street and violating that golden bull that’s in the opening credits of Celebrity Apprentice.  (There’s probably another name for it, but that’s how we know it.)  He staged architecture battles, and in a really touching episode, officiated a same-sex wedding for his longtime costume designer.  The scenes of Conan getting ordained online were very funny, but the actual wedding was sweet and genuine.

Of course, a couple of our long-time favorites stopped by.  First, Ted Turner (Will Forte) and Teddy Jr. showed up to berate Conan and the audience…

And then the always awesome Louis C.K. stopped by to complain about Twitter and talk about his early days as a writer on Conan’s old Late Night show.

How did people watch late night TV before the Web?  This week, we’re really looking forward to Clint Eastwood on The Daily Show (Monday), Joel McHale on Conan (Wednesday), the bizarre pairing of Taylor Lautner and Herman Cain on Jimmy Kimmel Live (Monday), and much more.  Trust us, if you want to see Adam Sandler or the cast of Twilight interviewed, you won’t have to look too hard.

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