Late-night hosts discussed the fallout from the latest Republican healthcare bill passing through the House of Representatives and the party’s attacks on their brand of politically charged comedy.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host revisited his emotional speech from last week that brought him and his family a great deal of attention. While many have praised him for bringing attention to America’s problematic healthcare system, Republicans have reacted negatively.
He played a clip of his baby appearing happy and joked: “He’s smiling because so many people donated to Children’s Hospital Los Angeles. Either that or he has gas.”
Kimmel then recounted the many critical headlines challenged him for using his show to help others. “I would like to apologize for saying that children in America should have healthcare,” he said. “It was insensitive, it was offensive and I hope you can find it in your heart to forgive me.”
One of his most vocal opponents has been Newt Gingrich who appeared on Fox News to claim that comedians have become blinded with anger because of their hatred of Donald Trump. “Gee, I wonder why we’re so angry,” he said. “Maybe it has something to do with, I don’t know, you?”
He continued: “There’s a reason he’s named after a lizard”.
On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert spoke about the amended healthcare bill and played an ad showing the Virginia gubernatorial candidate Tom Perriello crushing an ambulance, given that they may no longer be deemed a basic benefit in the US under Trump. “It seems like a waste of a perfectly good ambulance until you realize without healthcare, we won’t need them anymore,” he joked.
He then referred to Mick Mulvaney as “budget director and baby born in a suit” before playing embarrassing footage of him trying to answer questions while hold music was playing.
On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host brought up the news that Barack Obama had warned Trump about hiring Michael Flynn, something that the current president chose to ignore.
Trump officials reportedly thought Obama was joking. “I knew we’d eventually pay the price for having a president as funny as Obama, because someone dumb would think he was joking about something serious,” he said.
He then played footage of Republicans refusing to answer a journalist asking if they’d read the latest healthcare bill. “Man, that reporter couldn’t have got dodged any harder if he had a clipboard and a Greenpeace T-shirt,” he said.
Meyers also received a complaint from Paul Ryan’s office, claiming that the show had been pushing a number of falsehoods. Rather than the bill being rushed and invisible, they claimed it had been online for a month and there was only a three-page amendment that had been made. “A lot can happen in three pages,” he said. “That’s like saying I made you a cappuccino with hot water, sugar, espresso and one other ingredient. You would say: ‘Well, what’s the other ingredient, Mr Cosby?’”
He then detailed the many tax cuts that richer Americans will receive as a result of the bill and the president’s other plans. “Basically, Donald Trump is giving himself a giant tax cut that I assume he will use to buy even longer ties,” he said.
Finally, on The Tonight Show, Jimmy Fallon spoke about the French election. “Trump said he’s worried that at 39, the president may be a little immature ... then went back to tweeting insults at CNN,” he said.
He then joked that the president would be starting a new site called TrumpMD to deal with medical queries but had struggled with some of the definitions. He thought cardiologist meant “someone who works at Hallmark”, anesthesia was “Dakota Johnson’s character in Fifty Shades of Grey”, and midwife was “the second of three wives”, Fallon said.
