Late Night Last Week: Jon Stewart Critiques His Own Parent Company, Ronny Chieng Mocks Trump’s Epstein Response, and More
(Photos: Comedy Central, ABC, and the Criterion Channel)
Each week, Late Night Last Week highlights some of the most notable moments from the previous week. Last week, The Daily Show covered Paramount’s settlement with Trump and the DOJ’s announcement that there is no Epstein client list, as Anthony Anderson filled in for Jimmy Kimmel and Dick Cavett visited the Criterion Closet.
As most of the network late night shows were enjoying an extended vacation, The Daily Show began last week by discussing yet another deeply alarming assault on the First Amendment in the United States.
On Monday, July 7, Jon Stewart welcomed longtime 60 Minutes correspondent Steve Kroft, who retired in 2019. The topic of discussion was a recent decision by Paramount—the parent company of both CBS and Comedy Central—to settle a lawsuit with President Trump, who received a $16 million payout. The issue was over the program’s interview with then-Vice President Kamala Harris during the campaign. Trump alleged that the interview had been edited to deliberately help Harris, and thus sabotage his election chances.
With Kroft, Stewart discussed how the settlement is unequivocally ridiculous—Stewart was able to find a clip of Fox News covering for Trump within minutes—and dangerous for a free press. The pair discussed the pending sale of Paramount and how the settlement may have been out of a desire for the Trump Administration not to block the corporate merger.
“So the implication is, you don’t get your $8 billion merger, you don’t get your $2 billion payout unless you give me a tremendous amount of money,” Stewart said. “I’m obviously not a lawyer, but I did watch Goodfellas. That sounds illegal.”
Kroft agreed. “It was a shakedown,” he said.
The fear, of course, is not a monetary one, or at least not just a monetary one. It is the precedent this sets and the chilling impact it may have on free speech. Corporations may find it easier to just write a check than stand up for what is so obviously a foundational right to the free press. This is, of course, why giant corporations are not the best custodians of journalism, as Stewart himself has been reminding us for years.
In his newsletter Status, Oliver Darcy reported last week on internal speculation that, post-merger, Stewart and Stephen Colbert, who regularly tops the late night ratings, may soon be out of jobs, part of an effort to de-liberal the network.
Just the mere thought is chilling. But if there are two dudes who will not back down out of fear, it may just be them. As Stewart’s break-up with Apple taught us, he will leave peacefully, but not quietly. Sirs, all we can say is: *Al Pacino solidary meme.gif*
Meanwhile, Anthony Anderson spent the week guest hosting on Jimmy Kimmel Live! On the Thursday, July 10 broadcast, Anderson took advantage of his time before a national audience to celebrate his mother Doris’ 72nd birthday.