Late Night Last Week: The Return of Conan, John Oliver on Tipping, and More
Every week, Late Night Last Week highlights some of the best late night TV from the previous week. In this week’s late night TV recap, late night’s prodigal son Conan O’Brien returns to hype his Oscars gig, John Oliver looks at America’s tipping culture, and The Daily Show‘s Desi Lydic investigates the response to the fake, not real, totally unofficial, and yet deeply destructive “Department of Government Efficiency.”
With Conan O’Brien at the center of the culture, the last week or so has felt like a dream. As our own Garrett Martin put it, the decision to have Conan host the 97th Academy Awards was “an unexpected but inspired choice.” And the man delivered, not only on the big night, but in the days before the affair, like when he gleefully rolled out the red carpet to mark the start of the week’s festivities.
The lead up to his sublime performance on Sunday night also came with a press tour, including an appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! During his conversation with Kimmel, the two discussed preparing for the Oscars and all that comes with it. But at the end, the pair talked about Bob Newhart, the legend of television and comedy who, thankfully, was featured in this year’s In Memoriam segment.
Conan was close to Newhart and his wife, Ginnie, inviting them each year to his Christmas party. When Newhart died last year, O’Brien was asked to give a eulogy. He told Kimmel a story from the days before the funeral, when he received a phone call from the family priest. O’Brien, raised Catholic, answered the phone seriously, only to find that the priest had called to make sure there would not be “bumpage,” a comedy term performers use to make sure they will not be delivering similar material at the same event.
Newhart’s most famous bit took the form of a telephone conversation in which the audience could only hear his side. The priest informed Conan that he planned to do something similar at the service. Conan hilariously recounted the priest’s relief that Conan, in turn, was not planning a telephone bit. “Yeah, I went to a prop house in Burbank, I got a phone and everything,” Conan remembered the priest saying, hilariously reenacting the exchange, “It’s gonna be killer!”
Damn is it good to have him back.
For those of us feeling blue once the Oscars concluded and Conan went back to whatever he does when he’s not hosting an awards show, John Oliver was there for us in more ways than one. Not only did the March 2 episode of Last Week Tonight keep the fun going for the evening, but the main monologue concerned one of the most existential questions of our age: tipping. Specifically, when and how to do and not do this very American phenomenon.
Oliver’s monologue titled more towards the informative than the comical this week, and for good reason, as there’s much to unpack. Oliver covers everything from the history of tipping, to a range of policy proposals, including the “No Tax on Tips” campaign promise of Donald Trump. He discusses the pros and cons of this idea, and also the possibility of raising the base minimum wage as an alternative.
He also analyses the absurd range of reactions to our tipping culture, from impound lots asking for tips (don’t tip here), to dudes online protesting the admittedly absurd tipping culture by not tipping anyone anymore, including servers at restaurants (definitely tip!). He also shared one story of a 100% automated coffee service machine that gave the option to tip its googly eyes-wearing robot server. Oliver said we can all agree that that machine does not want a tip. “All it wants is the sweet release of death and to be welcomed into the Kingdom of Heaven,” Oliver said. “But newsflash, robot: that’s never gonna happen, you’re not getting into heaven. You know why, say it with me folks …”
“You were never baptized!” the audience cheered.
Over on After Midnight, host Taylor Tomlinson was joined on the February 25 broadcast by Tichina Arnold, Affion Crockett, and Essence Atkins. At one point on the show, Tomlinson left the stage and handed over the reins to three of the show’s writers, Alexandria Love, Michelle Davis, and Shantira Jackson, who led a celebration of Black History Month. The trio of writers asked the contests to name their least favorite thing about white people.
“Girl,” Atkins said. To which the writers immediately were in complete agreement. “And then,” she said. “Right? Exactly!” Then came Crockett’s answer. “Y’all have commandeered the word white, because you all are more a rosacea pink,” he said. “The actual color white has actually made Black people look fantastic at dinner parties.” And they saved the best for last from Arnold: “I’ve seen The Wizard of Oz a million times. None of you have seen The Wiz!”
“Alright y’all, that is all the blackness CBS will allow,” Jackson said to close the segment.
Let us end with The Daily Show. On February 27, host Desi Lydic summed up the, well, underwhelming liberal response to Trump 2.0. For example, she played a clip of a group of federal workers singing an out-of-tune song in opposition to DOGE. “That sounded so bad I had to cleanse my ears with an RFK Jr. speech,” she said.
Lydic, though, went on to make the point that it is good that regular citizens are putting in the time to voice their opposition. It should be up to our elected officials to take the reins, she said, before playing a clip of California Governor Gavin Newsom announcing the launch of his new podcast. “I can’t believe they rebuilt LA that fast,” she said. “How do you have the time?”
The host went on to play a litany of just absolutely cringe clips of Democrats trying to be edgy and cool in their response to Musk, from a range of jokes about the DOGE acronym to failed Kenrick Lamar references. It’s all just lame.
Lydic’s monologue showed why she is the best of the program’s non-Monday hosts. Her ability to call out the self-serious without losing the seriousness of the times makes her an incredibly incisive and hilarious messenger. Unlike much of late night, The Daily Show does not shy away from more biting jokes, making it one of the few fresh programs on the air. And no one delivers such lines better than Lydic.
Will DiGravio is a Brooklyn-based critic, researcher, and late night comedy columnist, who first contributed to Paste in 2022. He’s been writing Paste’s late night TV recaps since 2024. 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.