James Taylor, Vibe Checks, and Pelosi Protests: Late Night at Day Two of the DNC

This is the second in a series of posts chronicling how late night television is covering the 2024 Democratic National Convention. Follow along throughout the week for more updates. Read about night one here.

Those who have been following the Democratic National Committee in Chicago will remember the major controversy from the first evening of festivities: a performance by James Taylor was cut for time. Apparently, the DNC cares more about elected officials than the voice of a generation. Thankfully, late night came in to save the day.

The singer-songwriter made an appearance on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert. Well, kind of. Singing in Taylor’s style and paired with footage of the man himself, Colbert offered a parody of “Fire and Rain.” The song took the form of vengeful lyrics, including: “I’ll set fires and I’ll bring pain.”

The Grammy-winning singer was also booked to appear on The Daily Show. The show was recorded before an audience at the Athenaeum Center for Thought & Culture in Chicago, and guest host Desi Lydic plugged an upcoming performance from Taylor throughout the broadcast. But after an interview with Representative Lauren Underwood, the show unfortunately ran out of time. Foiled again.

Vibes Are Reportedly High

On the first night of the DNC, President Joe Biden delivered a speech, during which he passed the torch to Vice President Kamala Harris. As Lydic explained, vibes seemed high. So to get a sense of just exactly what the halls of the United Center were feeling like, Daily Show correspondents set out to talk to delegates. “Everybody knows I’m known for my positive vibes and happy-go-lucky attitude,” Ronny Chieng said. “So let’s go talk to some left-wing nerds here at the DNC.”

Colbert, who is broadcasting live each night from the Auditorium in Chicago, similarly pointed out the excited vibes at the DNC, or, as he described the feeling amongst attendees, “Eeeee!” In his monologue, Colbert had fun with the high-energy roll call at yesterday’s DNC, during which delegates officially nominated Harris and Tim Walz as their candidates. “All in all, it was a great time and a celebration of state pride and a celebration of song,” Colbert said, “featuring my favorite artist: anyone but Lee Greenwood.”

Protestors Interrupt Nancy Pelosi

Nancy Pelosi featured heavily in the second evening of late night’s DNC coverage. On The Daily Show, Lydic had fun with images of Pelosi on the convention floor, holding a “We [heart] Joe” sign, just weeks after reports that the former House speaker was one of leading forces to get Biden to drop out of the race. “It’s like the iceberg waving goodbye to the Titanic,” Lydic said.

Later, on Colbert, Pelosi herself appeared as a guest. During the interview, a protest began in the audience. Colbert paused the questioning and acknowledged the protest, which concerned the ongoing violence in Gaza. “If you’ll have a seat,” Colbert said, “we have to go to the commercial break. When we come back, I will ask the next question I had on that subject. If you will listen, okay?”

Colbert then returned from the break and asked Pelosi about Israel and Palestine. “There’s a political convention in town. You’re a politician,” Colbert said. “And protests are natural.” Pelosi went on to give a general “war is bad” answer as protests continued. “As you can see from the continuing protests out here,” a calm Colbert replied, “that answer is unsatisfying to some people.”

Protesters continued to yell and Colbert passed on their message to Pelosi, who said she was struggling to hear. “They said the United States should not have any role in supplying Israel arms to kill the people of Gaza now. That’s what they’re saying,” Colbert said, followed by cheers and applause from the crowd. Pelosi went on to call for a two-state solution, which also received a positive reaction before protests briefly continued and the live interview ended.

Meanwhile …

In New York and Los Angeles, other late night programs proceeded with business as usual, albeit with some DNC jokes mixed into their bits and monologues. Jimmy Fallon reprised his role as Joe Biden, and gave advice to former President Barack Obama (Dion Flynn), who addressed the convention last night.

Seth Meyers gave his own take on Biden’s fiery speech. “It was a little like running into someone a month after you broke up with them,” Meyers said. “They look good. They’re funny and they’re fiery. And you think to yourself, ‘Ah, I’m still glad we broke up. But good for you!’”

And over on ABC, RuPaul is filling in this week for Jimmy Kimmel. Last night’s monologue just briefly touched on the DNC, but not without the host noting that Biden managed to say “folks” in his speech a dozen times. “He’s got no folks left to give,” RuPaul said.

Will DiGravio is a Brooklyn-based critic and researcher, who first contributed to Paste in 2022. He is an assistant editor at Cineaste, a GALECA member, and since 2019 has hosted The Video Essay Podcast. You can follow and/or unfollow him on Twitter and learn more about him via his website.