Late night hosts temper America's new surge of optimism, hit Romney's rough reception, Flynn's Pledge fail
"Here's something positive to kick things off: A new poll shows that almost two-thirds of Americans are feeling optimistic after President Biden's first 100 days in office," Jimmy Fallon said on Monday's Tonight Show. "Of course we're feeling good — we've got vaccines in our arms, stimulus checks in our pockets, and hot sauce on our Goldfish." The last time "we were close to being this optimistic was 2006," he said, "when Tom Hanks brought back the mullet."
Verizon's $5 billion sale of Yahoo and AOL "is already being called the most successful tech sale of 1999," Fallon joked. "I didn't even know Verizon owned Yahoo and AOL. That's like finding out Apple owns RadioShack. ... It was telling when they emailed the news to the heads of Yahoo and AOL and they both had Gmail addresses."
The Daily Show's Trevor Noah followed Fallon's "You've Got Mail" joke with a Norton Antivirus analogy for America's projected herd immunity failure. "Thanks to the many people who refuse to take a lifesaving vaccine, experts now think that coronavirus is basically going to become one of those antivirus popups — you know, we're gonna minimize it, but we'll never really delete it," he said. "In these divided times, it's just great to see all Americans coming together to fail at something so easily achievable."
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.
Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
That poll showing "a new sense of optimism" in America was also "conducted before we found out Elon Musk is hosting Saturday Night Live, so we'll see if it holds up," Jimmy Kimmel said on Kimmel Live. Condom sales are up, and in Las Vegas, "gamblers are vaccinated and ready to lose their whole stimulus checks," he said. "But just up the 15 in Utah, Sen. Mitt Romney had a rough weekend," getting "booed relentlessly by his fellow Republicans."
"I've never seen rude behavior from a group of Mormons before," Kimmel said, but the raspberries for Romney were "music to the ears of one Donald J. Trump," who released a statement cheering Utah Republicans for jeering "stone cold loser" Romney. "Speaking of stone cold losers," he added, Michael Flynn "spoke at a rally of Trump supporters in South Carolina yesterday, and for an ex-military guy who wraps his misdeeds tightly in the flag, he sure did have trouble coming up with the words to the Pledge of Allegiance."
Tooning Out the News found a way to save Romney from the rough GOP crowd. Peter Weber
Sign up for Today's Best Articles in your inbox
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.
-
Will Starmer's Brexit reset work?
Today's Big Question PM will have to tread a fine line to keep Leavers on side as leaks suggest EU's 'tough red lines' in trade talks next year
By The Week UK Published
-
How domestic abusers are exploiting technology
The Explainer Apps intended for child safety are being used to secretly spy on partners
By Chas Newkey-Burden, The Week UK Published
-
Scientists finally know when humans and Neanderthals mixed DNA
Under the radar The two began interbreeding about 47,000 years ago, according to researchers
By Justin Klawans, The Week US Published
-
Taylor Swift wraps up record-shattering Eras tour
Speed Read The pop star finally ended her long-running tour in Vancouver, Canada
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Drake claims illegal boosting, defamation
Speed Read The rapper accused Universal Music of boosting Kendrick Lamar's diss track and said UMG allowed him to be falsely accused of pedophilia
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
'Wicked' and 'Gladiator II' ignite holiday box office
Speed Read The combination of the two movies revitalized a struggling box office
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Jussie Smollet conviction overturned on appeal
Speed Read The Illinois Supreme Court overturned the actor's conviction on charges of staging a racist and homophobic attack against himself in 2019
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
Quincy Jones, music icon, is dead at 91
Speed Read The legendary producer is perhaps best known as the architect behind Michael Jackson's 'Thriller'
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published
-
OJ Simpson, star athlete tried for murder, dead at 76
Speed Read The former football hero and murder suspect lost his battle with cancer
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Momofuku's 'Chili Crunch' trademark uproar
Speed Read The company's attempt to own the sole rights has prompted backlash
By Rafi Schwartz, The Week US Published
-
Kevin Hart awarded Mark Twain Prize
Speed Read He is the 25th recipient of the prestigious comedy prize
By Peter Weber, The Week US Published