Pete Buttigieg filling in for Jimmy Kimmel in an empty studio amid coronavirus was "super awkward"

The Daily Beast

Hours before Buttigieg filled in on Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the former Democratic presidential candidate's senior advisor Lis Smith tweeted a picture of him preparing, with the caption: "These are unusual times, but the show must go on." Buttigieg did proceed with guest-hosting last night, to a previously unannounced empty studio audience. "When Pete Buttigieg first announced his presidential campaign last spring, he probably could not have imagined that less than a year later he would be guest-hosting Jimmy Kimmel Live! in the middle of a global pandemic," says Matt Wilstein. "The novel idea to have the former South Bend mayor fill in for Jimmy Kimmel, who was off shooting his reboot of Who Wants to Be a Millionaire?, must have seemed like a better idea a few days ago, before the novel coronavirus shut down much of the United States. Hosting a late-night show is challenging on a regular night, let alone in the middle of a national crisis without a live studio audience." Buttigieg got to interview Patrick Stewart and got to compete against him in Star Trek Trivia, with host LeVar Burton.

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• Pete Buttigieg proved to be a better talk show interviewer than Jimmy Fallon: "Unsurprisingly, Buttigieg is an attentive interviewer — showing himself in one night to be a better listener and banter-maker, I’d wager, than NBC’s Jimmy Fallon has ever been," says Hank Stuever. "Of course, the show picked a dream guest for Buttigieg, the lifelong nerd: Sir Patrick Stewart....Buttigieg’s ease with the rhythm of a talk show was even more apparent during a short, cheerful interview with Tony Hale, the Emmy-winning actor who played Gary, the pathetic presidential bag man, on HBO’s Veep. Buttigieg, who worked with such an aide on the trail (a female Gary), gave some insight into what it’s like to be the person who needs a bag man. That conversation would have been even more interesting if it could have been longer."
• Buttigieg gamely guest-hosted Jimmy Kimmel Live!, but "gameness" is not always a virtue: "Buttigieg seemed vaguely embarrassed as he, late in his monologue, ran through B-level material about his wardrobe, insisting he hadn’t written it," says Daniel D'Addario. "His embarrassment came for the wrong reasons: Because it was prickling at his ego, not because for a man who was a week ago trying to run the country trying to stay in our consciousness in this moment, in this way felt vaguely disgraceful. Otherwise, he seemed preternaturally at home on TV, flexibly melding himself to the material the show wrote for him: He got a little ahead of himself when ranting at guest Patrick Stewart about his Star Trek fandom, but blandly chuckled while listening to Stewart talking about his own socialist leanings."
• Watch Jimmy Fallon and Stephen Colbert deliver eerie late-night monologues to empty audiences
• Colbert's first no-audience show was surreal and comforting: "The comedian sat at his desk, paused for laughs that weren’t there, soaked up the strangeness of it all, and occasionally sipped from a cocktail hidden under his desk," says Matt Patches. "Each time he stepped up to a new bit, he took a deep breath of 'the show must go on.' The gonzo approach worked. Even in what seemed like impromptu moments, like a stretch when Colbert compared the calming qualities of his mixed drink to Batiste’s piano riffs, the agile host (who danced a similar dance on The Colbert Show during the 2008 writers strike) survived the haunting absence of audience gratification. He just knew his bits would work. And they did."
• Fallon told viewers he was “just as confused and freaked out” as everyone else: "But what I do know is when we’re there for each other is when we’re at our best,” he said. “And I am here for you.”
• Fallon's monologue before an empty audience was surprisingly charming: "Watching the polished, laughter-filled monologues of the late night hosts is always entertaining," says Sam Haysom. "But it turns out the unvarnished, still-in-rehearsal-stage versions carry their own charm, too."
• Colbert's first no-audience show was essentially his rehearsal
• Watch Trevor Noah sing a "farewell" tribute to his studio audience
• James Corden offered a heartfelt speech on the coronavirus on his last night before going audience-free: "I’m sure a lot of you are feeling frightened and vulnerable at the moment, we want to take a minute to say just know that you are not alone," he said.