Each week, Late Night Last Week highlights some of the best late night TV from the previous week. This week, Michael Kosta discusses Trump, Elon Musk, and “The Worst Wing”; Amber Ruffin says what; Liz Glazer makes her Tonight Show debut; and John Oliver tackles med spas.
Following Jon Stewart’s regular Monday slot, The Daily Show last week was hosted by Michael Kosta, whose better-than-you bro persona has emerged as one of the most effective comedy characters of Trump 2.0.
Kosta shines in bits like “Sports War” (a parody of an ESPN debate show) and his ongoing segment, “Ko$ta Doing Business,” during which he parodies a stock market analyst. He has proven especially effective in adapting this persona for the host’s chair, dialing it back just enough to offer his unique brand of sarcasm in reacting to the news.
Since the start of Donald Trump’s second term, the crew over at The Daily Show has brought us one of late night television’s most useful segments, “The Worst Wing.” The focus: the shenanigans Trump cabinet officials and other appointees get up to on a weekly basis.
On the Tuesday, June 3 episode of The Daily Show, Kosta led the audience through a particularly grim “Worst Wing” segment, which included a few lesser known figures. For example, Kosta shared the news that the new acting director of FEMA reportedly said he was previously unaware the United States had a hurricane season. The White House said he was joking.
“That doesn’t make it better. The head of FEMA is a serious job,” Kosta observed. “I don’t want my EMTs to be like, okay, now where do I push to make the heartbeat again? Just kidding. I got it. Hey, wake up.”
Kosta followed that with a bit of audio featuring the new commissioner of Social Security (kind of a big job), who talks about how he had previously not even known there was such a thing as the (checks notes) commissioner of Social Security. He even brags about Googling the position after being offered the job.
“I mean, how do you not know what the Commissioner of Social Security does?” Kosta asked. “He’s the one who, you know, hands out the championship trophy at the end of the social security season.”
The Kosta approach: fight flippancy with flippancy.
Last week, he also had the good fortune of being in the host’s chair as the Trump-Musk relationship came to a close (at least for now). “Oh my God, I can’t believe it,” Kosta said to open the June 5 episode of the show. “The thing that was always gonna happen is now happening.”
Kosta ably delivered the play-by-play, covering each man’s criticism of the other. But then he took a step back, offering the darker, bigger picture. “By the way, can we just point out how crazy 2025 is? Most people can’t afford to eat eggs anymore,” he said. “Meanwhile, these two billionaires are attacking each other from different social media platforms that they each own. Maybe we should eat the rich.”
Meanwhile, over on Late Night with Seth Meyers, staff writer Amber Ruffin returned on June 4 with a new edition of another late night news segment stalwart, “Amber Says What.” The segment features Ruffin reacting to a mix of old and new news that the show has otherwise not had a chance to cover. As always, Ruffin did not disappoint.
For example, Ruffin tackled the TikTok trend “Gingers are Black.” Ruffin had a unique take on the matter: “They were just saying it for fun, but if you think about it, it makes sense.” Her example? Daphne from Scooby-Doo. “Very Black,” Ruffin observed. “She’s super cute, perfectly dressed, and solves crimes because she knows she can’t count on the police.”
On June 5, Liz Glazer delivered a superb debut set on The Tonight Show. The bit that has kept me chuckling since first watching Glazer’s set concerns her observation that, these days, everybody is gay. “That’s a good thing but it’s also annoying,” Glazer said. “The value of the gay dollar is down.”
However, Glazer was quick with a caveat. “Whenever I say everybody’s gay, there’s always one guy who’s like, ‘I’m not gay!’ “I’m like. ‘You’re gay,’” Glazer said, with a hilarious point to the crowd.
After Glazer’s set, I look forward to watching her new (free on YouTube) stand-up special, “Do You Know Who I’m Not?”
And finally, we end with our returning late-night champion, John Oliver. Lately on Last Week Tonight, Oliver has been (thankfully) dedicating his monologues to topics one might find on the front page of the newspaper. This includes topics like anti-trans hate, the shortage of air traffic controllers, and, of course, the Trump Administration.
But part of what makes Last Week Tonight the best program in late night is its ability to pivot into a subject that is totally off one’s (or at least my own) radar. His monologue from last year on deep-sea mining still lives in my head rent free. And last night’s monologue? Med spas. Specifically, the threats posed by their rapid rise.
Oliver’s monologue made the point that while many of these med spas—which provide a range of medical and non-medical procedures—are safe, some present a series of risks when medical protocols are not properly followed. This kind of work falls into what Oliver notes is a “regulatory grey area,” as they provide a mix of services provided by estheticians on the one hand, and medical professionals on the other.
In his monologue, as he so often does, Oliver follows the money, noting the rise in chains that offer investors the chance to essentially set up a medical practice overnight. Oliver shows one PSA that features a doctor talking about how one can start a franchise anywhere they like, whether it be a building of medical offices or a shopping mall.
“It’s also not exactly reassuring to hear a medical facility being pitched the same way you’d pitch a Subway sandwich shop,” Oliver reasoned. “I know both technically involve getting suspicious looking goo inside you, but through vastly different delivery systems.”
Watch the full monologue (and share it with your friends) below.
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.
