Not only did NBC champion Democratic Senators for filibustering for gun control during Wednesday’s Nightly News, they also praise the late-night comedy shows for helping viewers. But what were the hosts really saying? “They're the funny men and women we turn to when we need to laugh, but there's been little to laugh about in the last few days,” stated host Lester Holt, “And now late-night hosts have once again found themselves straddling the lines between comedians and consolers.”
NBC’s Kevin Tibbles’ report was a love letter to the comedy hosts. “Perhaps it is important for us to watch them grapple with tragedy, too,” he wondered before playing a clip from Samantha Bee’s Full Frontal. “Is it okay if instead of making jokes, I just scream for seven minutes until we go to commercial,” she said in the clip.
Interestingly, Tibbles failed to mention the part of her show where she prayed to God that every member of the NRA was plagued with boils. Nor did he share the part where she declared that she does want to take guns away from innocent people. Neither, of which sound like a person looking to console anyone.
Tibbles also argued that the late-night shows are, “a plea to make sense of the senseless.” He then followed it up with a clip of Conan O’Brain pretending to be the adult in the room, “It's time to grow up, and figure this out.”
But Conan wasn’t talking about having a discussion about what to do. Again, Tibbles failed to reveal the political agenda Conan peddled during his opening monologue, declaring “weapons of war” should not be owned by civilians.
Transcript below:
NBC
Nightly News
June 15, 2016
7:26:48 PM Eastern [2 Minutes 8 Seconds]LESTER HOLT: Finally tonight, they're the funny men and women we turn to when we need to laugh, but there's been little to laugh about in the last few days. And now late-night hosts have once again found themselves straddling the lines between comedians and consolers. Here's Kevin Tibbles.
[Cuts to video]
KEVIN TIBBLES: We tune in for a welcome breath of levity at the end of the day. But when events are too painful to lampoon.
JIMMY FALLON: I as a new father am thinking, what do I tell my kids?
TIBBLES: How do our late-night humorists respond?
FALLON: What if my kids are gay? What do I tell them? Maybe there's a lesson from all this, a lesson in tolerance.
TIBBLES: Perhaps it is important for us to watch them grapple with tragedy, too.
SAMANTHA BEE: Is it okay if instead of making jokes, I just scream for seven minutes until we go to commercial?
ANDY COHEN: This gay American is going to try to put a smile on your face.
TIBBLES: For Bravo's Andy Cohen, it is personal.
COHEN: It was a way of expressing my own grief, and also kind of explaining, kind of, why this was so sad, you know, that gay bars are a place where we all go to feel a sense of community, and a sense of feeling free, and togetherness.
TIBBLES: And it's happened before. When our nation was attacked.
DAVID LETTERMAN: There is only one requirement for any of us, and that is to be courageous. Because courage, as you might know, defines all other human behavior.
TIBBLES: And again it is a plea to make sense of the senseless.
CONAN: It's time to grow up, and figure this out.
TIBBLES: But also, a call to look inward.
STEPHEN COLBERT: Love your family, love the families of the victims and the people of Orlando. But let's remember that love is a verb. And to love means to do something.
TIBBLES: We invite them into our homes each and every night.
JOHN OLIVER: That terrorist [ bleep ] is vastly outnumbered. And now please enjoy our stupid show.
TIBBLES: Even when it's no laughing matter. Kevin Tibbles, NBC News, Chicago.
