Thanksgiving 2020: Five things late night TV fans should be thankful for
By Matt Moore
Late night TV Thanksgiving list: Quarantinewhile
Late night TV fans know that The Late Show with Stephen Colbert is the place to go for political comedy. Covering the Trump administration has helped Stephen Colbert dominate the ratings as well as become the voice of reason in an unreasonable time.
The Late Show‘s perspective on the pandemic was also tied into the political aspects, making it impossible to talk about one without the other. But late night fans should be thankful that The Late Show knew when distractions were necessary and knew how to deliver.
“Meanwhile” was a recurring bit on The Late Show that Colbert rebranded “Quarantinewhile” during the pandemic. It was a reminder of what late night TV can be when politics aren’t strangling the nation’s attention. Colbert riffed on random stories pulled from the internet and around the world that always brought a laugh.
It would have been easy for Colbert to spend the first half of every show poring over President Trump’s tweets and how he mishandled the pandemic response. Instead, to save himself and his audience from exhaustion, Colbert used “Quarantinewhile” flawlessly to distract us when we needed it the most.