Europeans Are Absolutely Confused About American Late-Night TV

Late-night talk shows are back, baby! By Monday night, all of the members of Strike Force Five will have returned to the air. (HBO’s John Oliver will beat the rest of the five by a day with a new episode planned for Sunday, October 1st).

Click right here to get the best of Cracked sent to your inbox.

Seeing as every host in that tweet seems to shop at the same department store, it’s not hard to understand why this all seems weird to anyone outside of the American media-sphere. 

Um, yeah, okay, you have a point there, Europe. The shows must seem awfully similar, right down to the fact that we had three hosts named Jimmy until Corden returned to your side of the pond earlier this year. 

Some facts are undeniable. All of the late-night talkers feature white guys who tell topical jokes, goof around with a live band, then settle in to swap stories with promotion-hungry celebrities. But surely there must be some difference between the shows?

Twitter/X being Twitter/X, it didn’t take long for American late-night fans to fire back. Is the U.K. really the country that should be calling the kettle black here?

Plus, the Jimmys (and Stephen and Seth) have their own distinctive approaches to late night,  argued others. They’re not the same at all!

Of course, those differences are in the eye of the beholder.

With late-night arguments this heated, it’s a wonder the WGA strike ever got settled in the first place.