Late night talk show hosts are like J.M. Barrie's fairies — they're born from laughter and feed off applause. Sadly, the coronavirus pandemic has displaced said hosts from their natural habitat, cutting them off from live studio audiences and removing their regular source of validation.
Fortunately they are a resilient species, and have now been observed working together to forage for praise in groups.
Conan O'Brien and Stephen Colbert compared notes on how home recording has been working for them on Tuesday, and it's fair to say both are feeling the social distance.
"I miss the laughter," said Conan. "I miss the joy that I bring others."
"Well what about your show, do you miss that?" quipped Colbert.
Even so, the Late Night host admitted he feels the same.
"I miss the audience because I get all of my value from their praise," said Colbert. "I have no self-worth at all. I only exist really in reflection to them chanting my name, so it's been rough."
"When they chant my name now it's usually as an angry mob," said O'Brien.
Topics Stephen Colbert Celebrities COVID-19
