Stephen Colbert, Conan O'Brien and Jimmy Fallon's Trump response cold open amounted to "lowball banter"

The Ringer

"Just on the merits of the actual jokes, Tuesday’s cold open was a collection of low-hanging fruit—Colbert and Fallon adopting Trump’s 'lowlife' and 'lost soul' monikers (neat!), a stray, topical mention of Red Hen (timely!)," says Miles Surrey. "But beyond the lack of ingenuity, the skit itself begged the question of why the late-night hosts engage in the first place, and whether this sort of exercise is even vaguely worthwhile. Frankly, there are no winners here. The prestige and Emmys consideration Colbert seeks, the ratings boost Fallon yearns for, and the general reminder of his existence that Conan hopes to attain will never be found via a stunt like this. What it ultimately achieves—especially for a host like Colbert, who has engaged in plenty of political fervor—is a feedback loop for the hosts’ (overwhelmingly liberal) viewerships, and a distraction Trump and his base is more than happy to indulge in. The solution isn’t attempting to bridge the increasingly large gap between these two poles—or god forbid, trying to be 'civil.' Maybe there isn’t a good solution at all. But at least beacons of late-night comedy could recognize how meaningless, and most of all exhausting, this lowball banter with Trump is. And at least they could stop looking so damn excited about having a new feud to latch onto." ALSO: Colbert spearheaded the skit and tried to get Jimmy Kimmel and Samantha Bee involved, but they're off this week.