Watch: late-night TV hosts Colbert, Fallon and O’Brien team up to make light of Trump’s insults
Who says US President Donald Trump only divides? On Tuesday, he brought three late-night hosts together for a rare joint response to presidential insults at a South Carolina rally on Monday.
Stephen Colbert, Jimmy Fallon and Conan O’Brien united for a taped segment that, in what may be an unprecedented move, opened both Colbert’s The Late Show and Fallon’s The Tonight Show, long-running time slot competitors.
The three teamed up after the president doled out critiques of CBS’ Colbert (“low-life”), NBC’s Fallon (“lost soul”) and ABC late-night host Jimmy Kimmel (“terrible”) during a speech to rally support for a gubernatorial candidate. His insults came after a recent interview in which Fallon said he regretted his much-criticised decision to take a playful approach to Donald Trump, mussing up his hair during a 2016 show.
The short video opened with Colbert, who Trump referred to as “the guy on CBS” at Monday’s rally, writing a joke and congratulating himself – “Great monologue!” – before answering a video call from Fallon.
“Hey, low-life,” Fallon greeted. “Hey, lost soul,” Colbert responded.
Fallon brought up Trump’s rally, but both said they hadn’t watched. “I heard he said some pretty bad stuff about us,” Fallon said.
“Really? That doesn’t sound like him,” Colbert said.
“I head he said we were all no talent, lowlifes, lost souls,” Fallon responded.
“Well, that’s not right. That’s Conan,” Colbert said, before placing a call to O’Brien.
The TBS host, his face covered in shaving cream, didn’t realise Trump had become president: “The real estate guy who sells steaks. He’s president? How’s he doing?”
“Not so good,” Colbert said.
“Well, guys, give him time … And remember, please be civil. If we’re not careful, this could start to get ugly,” O’Brien said, clearly missing another element of the cultural moment.
O’Brien then asked if the guys wanted to watch him shave his chest and they declined, hanging up. Fallon and Colbert then discussed lunch plans.
“Where do you want to eat?” Colbert asked.
“Red Hen?” Fallon responded, referring to the restaurant that last week asked White House Press Secretary Sarah Huckabee Sanders to leave.
“Red Hen!” Colbert said, closing the segment and leading into the opening credits.
