Late Night Last Week: Desi Lydic Breaks Down the Awkward Glances of Former Presidents

By Will DiGravio  |  January 13, 2025 | 3:07pm
TV Features late night
Late Night Last Week: Desi Lydic Breaks Down the Awkward Glances of Former Presidents

Every Monday,  ​​​​​Late Night Last Week highlights some of the best late night TV from the previous week. This week, The Daily Show looks at Jimmy Carter’s funeral and the anniversary of January 6th, and comedian Pete Lee talks about losing his house to the California wildfires on The Tonight Show.

After extended vacations, the late night shows returned to the air last week, ready and rested to tackle the new year. And the first week came with more than enough topics to cover: the devastating wildfires in Los Angeles (which caused Jimmy Kimmel Live! and After Midnight to wrap the week early), the death of Jimmy Carter, and all the nonviolence that occurred on January 6th. 

Events where all the presidents past and present gather always make for an interesting watch. There’s something a little uncanny about the whole enterprise, like a dream where you’re in a room with people from every aspect of your life. In theory it makes sense, but it all just looks and feels off. 

That is why even as the nation mourned Carter, and grappled with tragedies like the fires in Los Angeles, we just couldn’t look away from the awkward exchanges each of the former commanders in chief, their spouses, and the former vice presidents had during Carter’s funeral. Luckily, Desi Lydic, in the hosts’ chair last week on The Daily Show, was there to break it all down for us. 

Lydic reminded us of each of the horrible things that Trump has said about each of the people around him, including “almost murdered” (Mike Pence), “tried to put in prison” (Hillary Clinton), and “generally humiliated” (George W. Bush). And the fact that most of them thought Trump, in turn, was “Hitler.” “It’s a seating chart so awkward,” Lydic said, “that it probably had them asking, ‘Is there any extra room in that coffin?’”

 

The Los Angeles fires figured greatly on the January 9 broadcast of Late Night with Seth Meyers. The host dedicated his recurring “A Closer Look” segment to the lies being pushed about the fires, including by leaders like Donald Trump. This includes saying that the wildfires are a result of an absence of water and the fault of unsigned legislation by Governor Gavin Newsom. 

Trump posted online that Newsom had failed to sign something called the “water restoration declaration,” which, he claimed, would have provided more water to help fight the problem. Only problem is, no such thing exists. “Of course it doesn’t exist, you can tell that just from the phrase,” Meyers said. “It sounds like the name a bunch of stoners would make up for their bong.” 

Over on The Tonight Show, stand-up Pete Lee discussed his plans to be more assertive. “Unless you guys don’t like that and I’ll stop,” he said. He went on to discuss the feeling of being an unassertive person in an Uber or Lyft ride, like when a driver parks two blocks away and asks him to walk to the car. “Do you not understand the service you provide,” he asks. “Now I have to get a Lyft to catch my Uber.” 

Lee then joined host Jimmy Fallon on the couch to discuss losing his home in the Los Angeles fires. He got real while talking with Fallon, saying he felt that doing the show would be therapeutic even though he knew he would struggle to get through his set without crying. Lee also talked through writing down jokes as a means of coping with the tragedy and shared some with Fallon and the audience. “My house looked like the logo of a Guy Fieri restaurant,” Lee said. 

And finally, we get to Jon Stewart, who returned to The Daily Show on January 6th with the best joke to mark the four-year anniversary of Trump’s attempt to cling to power. “It is January 6, and as you can see, once again, a blanket of angry white descending on the capitol,” he declared, cutting to an image of a gentle snowfall. As silly as it is sad. 

Stewart then pivoted to the domestic terror attack on New Year’s Day in New Orleans. He dissected all the false narratives that came out after the attack, including that the alleged perpetrator was an illegal immigrant. The perpetrator was, in fact, an American citizen who had served in the military. No one is better at exposing those who seek to confirm their own biases than Stewart. 

He played one clip of a Fox News contributor still trying to spring the illegal immigrant narrative. “Yes, yes, clearly we have a problem over here,” Stewart said, “so, what about over there!” Just watch the master do what he does best. 

Will DiGravio is a Brooklyn-based critic, researcher, and late night comedy columnist, 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.

 
Join the discussion...