A Competitive Ike Barinholtz Won Late Night This Week

This week in late night was full of good news. There was the election in Wisconsin, Cory Booker’s speech, and the other election in Jacksonville, Florida, which technically didn’t shake out in Democrats’ favor but still saw a huge shift to the left in a previously freak-ass deep-red zone. All huge, incredible news. But there was a second, less-hailed piece of good news: Elton John can read again! News of Mr. John’s blindness has been greatly exaggerated, but on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon this week, he proved that not only could he read, he could read so well he ruined a game of “Password.” This is incredible messaging and something that really sells the necessity of late night as a mass-communication vector.

Another big moment in late night this week? After Midnight Mania. The show is going away and everyone is pissed about it, but they’re going to have some fun on the way out. After Midnight did a tournament-of-champions-style bracket this week in honor of last month being March Madness. The winners of Monday’s, Tuesday’s, and Wednesday’s shows went on to compete Thursday for bestest extemporaneous cultural critic. But the real-ass sportsmen commentating on the event is what made it special — or in the case of Lisa Gilroy, made her horny. What else was horny this week? Let’s find out!

Britt Lower Shows Off Her Special Skill

At this point, starlets on The Tonight Show have to wonder if showing off a talent — especially musical prowess — is a guaranteed way to get on this list. And you know what? They’d be right. Britt Lower did the Severance theme on the trumpet, and it was wonderful. Lower said she only did it because she’s on permanent Yes Day rules when it comes to non-life-threatening challenges that scare her, but it paid off for those of us who have zero stake in her personal development, too. I will be honest: The TikTok that goes “Mark is hot, Helly’s hot” was playing in my head the entire time she was tootin’ on da trumpet. But that only enriched the text, in my opinion.

Amber Ruffin Is Filled With Glee

After the week she’s had, Amber Ruffin deserves some joy. On Have I Got News for You, she was confronted with Lara Trump’s pre-surgery face. And boy-howdy, is that not a very changed face. It’s so changed, it’s changëd, with that umlaut that signifies a different syllable in The New Yorker. But the main vibe wasn’t shock and horror at what Lara Trump has done to Lara Trump; it was delight in what man still has the capability to do. Ruffin was stoked about this before-and-after, and that’s the kind of curious, warm energy that would have been great at the White House Correspondents’ Association dinner. Alas!

John Mulaney’s at tha Crossroads

Everybody’s Live brought us a thuggish, ruggish anecdote about being scammed by the alleged manager of Bone Thugs-N-Harmony on Wednesday. And thank God! There’s been a dearth of “John Mulaney needs approximately $2,000” stories since Baby J. The story about not getting Bone Thugs to perform on the show, no matter how many thousands of dollars were thrown at the problem, was solid gold. Better than if they’d performed? Perhaps. But this dedication to “whatever happens, happens” on this live show is desperately needed in the otherwise overly curated world of late night. Keep it up, John! For all nineish weeks you have left.

Two Paul Rudds for the Price of One

Paul Rudd appeared to throw up in his cowboy hat, and that should be applauded. Anytime someone has the media un-training to throw up on-camera, we should celebrate them like that stinky flower that only blooms once every 100 years. But the best moment in this “Day Drinking” segment came when a long-running bit about Late Night writer Seth Reiss resembling Paul Rudd came to a beautiful, gaffer-taped culmination. Rudd can do it all: make a beard out of tape, help someone distract Kang, and barf. A triple threat!

Ike Barinholtz Is a Sore Winner

Paul Rudd may have blown chunks and Elton John may have passed a vision test, but Ike Barinholtz was the most vulnerable boy on late night this week during WWHL. He was Über-competitive with Chase Sui Wonders in a game where the two battled to name a movie based on its catchphrase. Andy Cohen was allegedly playing too, but baby didn’t even get a word in. The Studio gang had the best Letterboxd “Four Favorites” video of recent memory, so it’s no surprise this game was highly competitive. Barinholtz is a Celebrity Jeopardy champion and also an unnecessarily hyphy competitor on WWHL. That’s a gorgeous balls-to-the-wall moment of branding.