https://variety.com/2025/tv/news/jimmy-fallon-avoid-politics-tonight-show-1236535575/
Why are we spending so much of our collective time worried about late-night talk show hosts?
They are not smart, and not critical. They are a part of a bedtime routine for many, but are not meant to - nor should they be considered - some kind of political criticism or even a stand-in for political speech that matters.
There is an illusion that the white men of privilege who serve as ad brokers and PR for the companies that own their networks (look at why certain guests are on and where they work) are somehow essential to democracy and freedom of expression. These people are essential to a consumer capitalist model of entertainment: Watch this free entertainment, watch some commercials (which generate a lot of revenue), and get excited about being able to give us more money watching this or that actor in a upcoming film that we also produce, read a book they published (also one of our companies), a TV show they are in (also ours), or what have you.
The hosts are marketing agents. Their goal is to give us the illusion of private access to an entertainer in a conversation. Much like the way Plato writes, we feel we are witnessing a real conversation, that we are eavesdropping and participating in a very special rare candid chat. We don't get to see the riders, the pre-interviews, or the instructions from corporate about the questions that have to come up and when the clip should be shown. This isn't free expression; this is an orchestrated commercial for the consumer products of film, books, and television shows.
It's embarrassing that people are upset with Fallon that he's decided to avoid politics. It's embarrassing that we think Jimmy Kimmel is the champion of free speech. It's embarrassing that we think Colbert was cancelled because he was too "real" about his politics. These people simply work in PR for massive media companies. They are pawns of a capitalist system designed to generate profit from every little thing they do, including their profit! They are not political heroes nor should they be. Perhaps we can generate some solidarity with them as workers who are being exploited by the corporations they have signed their life over to, but it's hard to generate sympathy with wealthy white men for the average worker. Any sympathy is probably just mislabeled desire, or identification: When we watch these shows we rhetorically identify with the host, not the staff, crew, or even the audience. We are on the couch facing the audience; we are part of the show. This identification deliberately avoids any of the understanding of how much distinction is there between us and the hosts.
For me it's evidence that capitalism has taken all time for reflection, reading, and writing out our own thoughts - the creative sort of work that is necessary in democracy to get our thinking straight before we go create a claim for someone else to consider. Instead of that, we now have the surrogates of fools like Colbert, Kimmel, and Fallon. They are hosting hour long infomercials about entertainment. They are not worth any consideration or being in any discussion about the political. We are the discussion about the political. We should resist systems that take time away from creative, thoughtful exploits. Laughing at a conversation between millionaire entertainers is fun, but it drains energy that could be put to more valuable ends (yes you can say repressive desublimation, I know you want to you Marcuse fans).
The court jester has a long tradition in politics of being the one person in the court who can criticize the king without worry of retribution because the criticism is rhetorically deflected through an over the top comedic approach. That is not what Jimmy Kimmel does. What he does is indicate quite directly who is wrong and worth being laughed at. This is not the tradition of the jester. This is the modern sensibility that people who are wrong deserve shame and hostile laughter. This is the work of someone in line with power, unlike the jester, who is in line with the people. This is not the voice of a helpful politics in any system, let alone a democracy. These people are best removed from television, second best is to totally disregard their existence.