The Amber Ruffin Show: Ruffin remains silly and satirical in latest episode

The Amber Ruffin Show had been enjoying its run on network television after temporarily replacing the 1:30 am time slot holder, A Little Late with Lilly Singh. Last night, the late night variety show returned home to its original platform, NBC’s streaming service Peacock.

Ruffin starts the show off with her monologue jokes beginning with former British royals Meghan Markle and Prince Harry’s interview with legendary talk show host Oprah Winfrey. In the interview, Markle revealed that the couple secretly married three days before the wedding and also noted that a member of the Royal family was concerned about the skin tone of Markle’s unborn baby. Ruffin and her sidekick, Tarik Davis, both used faux British accents to mock the latter fact. Other news in the monologue included former NBA basketball player Shaquille O’Neal’s upcoming birthday. Due to O’Neal’s large stature, Ruffin jokes, “Forty-nine years ago today, Shaq’s mom had…a day”

Ruffin continues the show by diving into her “Bad Faith Argument” segment where she discusses the recent news of famed children’s book author Dr. Seuss whose work has recently been the subject of controversy after racist imagery and subtly-derogatory wording was found in eight of his books. In this segment, Davis and Ruffin appear as individuals who are questioning the public outcry against Dr. Seuss while bringing up their “own” racist behavior.

In the next part of the show, Davis has gotten the vaccine while revealing to Ruffin that ever since he got the shot, his arm has been hurting and that he’s acquired strange side effects such as possessing psychic abilities. Examples shown include him telling Ruffin that he knew what she was going to say before she said it and moving a podium with his mind on screen. Late Night with Seth Meyers writer Jeff Wright also appears in this sketch as a mad scientist and superhero killer Dr. Archibald, who is trying to rid of Davis for his newly-realized superhero-like powers. Davis then destroys Dr. Archibald through lasers that shoot out of his eyes. Davis ends the sketch by asking to take the rest of the day off because of his shoulder to which Ruffin replies that he can’t. Davis then notices that his arm doesn’t hurt anymore.

Amber Ruffin does a deep dive into the Meghan Markle-Royal Family controversy

After the break, Ruffin decides to give her input on the news surrounding Meghan Markle and Oprah Winfrey’s interview in her segment called “How Did We Get Here” in which she analyzes the language used against Markle to defame her in the media. Ruffin refers to this language as “dog whistling” which is “coded language that’s used to insult a group of people while maintaining deniability to the audience at large”. Markle has been referred to as “uppity” in the news which prompts Ruffin to go over other examples of dog whistling in the media including headlines with quotes from former President Trump.

At the end of the segment, Ruffin jokingly encourages viewers to download the language app Duolingo if they are interested in learning more about “dog whistling” terms. Ruffin then takes the time to describe Markle and Prince Harry’s relationship without using any “dog-whistles”.

"Meghan and Harry are grown-ups who can do whatever they want. They are hot and young and rich and they know Oprah but most importantly, they are minding their own dang business. Meghan Markle’s life literally does not affect you in anyway so if you hate Meghan you need to a hard look at yourself and ask, ‘why?’."

Watch the full clip down below:

In the second half of the show, Ruffin lets Davis take over in his own segment called “Tarik’s Storytime” where Davis shares different stories including the first time he went to a baseball game. His segment gets interrupted by Ruffin who is seen getting up from her desk and walking over to a mailbox and being greeted by Mark the mailman, who is a puppet. As Davis begins his story, he is interrupted again by the same bell that signals Ruffin to head over to the mailbox again. She receives an invitation to dinner instead of getting a stimulus check. Davis then decides to pick another story to tell. The bell goes off for a third time prompting Ruffin to be visibly agitated as she is still awaiting her stimulus check and instead receiving yet another invitation, this time to a candy factory. Afterward, Davis and Mark the mailman then reveal that they already received their stimulus checks

While Davis was not able to verbally tell a story, he concludes the end of the “Tarik’s Storytime” segment by telling viewers that the story was actually what happened to Ruffin in the sketch.

Amber Ruffin satirizes Texas’ decision to reopen against President Biden’s warnings

At the end of the episode, Amber Ruffin decides to take the opportunity to mock Texas Gov. Greg Abbot’s decision to get rid of mask mandates and restrictions amid declining COVID-19 cases in an anthem entitled “Texas Just Don’t Give A F*ck”. Ruffin and Davis are seen rocking out to heavy-metal background music and both are lyrically unafraid to mock the assumed mindset of the state’s residents such as Ruffin defiantly singing, “Get this through/Your big dumb head/I’ma be free even if it means I’m gonna end up dead!”

Check out the full video below:

To close out the episode, Grey’s Anatomy actress Kelly McCreary appears on-screen and makes cracks a joke about how long the medical drama has been on the air. “You’re watching an episode from season one of The Amber Ruffin Show. Only 800 more seasons before they catch up to Grey’s Anatomy and I have no doubt that they’ll get there”. This episode of The Amber Ruffin Show is sure to be one for the books as Ruffin hilariously continues to showcase not just her silly antics but imparts some much-needed commentary on current events.

What did you think of last night’s episode? Share your thoughts in the comment section below. You can watch The Amber Ruffin Show for free when episodes premiere on NBC’s Peacock website and app Fridays at 9:00 P.M. EST.