Trevor Noah Says Kanye West Has a Presidential Genie
Version 0 of 1. Welcome to Best of Late Night, a rundown of the previous night’s highlights that lets you sleep — and lets us get paid to watch comedy. If you’re interested in hearing from The Times regularly about great TV, sign up for our Watching newsletter and get recommendations straight to your inbox. Over the weekend, President Trump tweeted about his attempts to free the American rapper ASAP Rocky from a Swedish jail, where he has been held for three weeks awaiting a court date on assault allegations. Trevor Noah found the presidential intervention surreal, but he came down on Rocky’s side on Monday. “I’ve seen some people online saying, ‘Oh, three weeks in Swedish jail isn’t that bad because their jails are really nice.’ Yeah, but you know what else is nice? Not being in jail.”— TREVOR NOAH “They don’t have bail in Sweden and won’t let him go because they consider him a flight risk which, I’m sorry, I think is crazy. You’re afraid he’s going to get out. He’s a black man in Sweden. Even if he tries to escape, how far can he get? Come on, Sweden! Let the guy go! Take away his passport and let him live! You could just write ‘the black guy’ on his wanted poster and he would be found!” — TREVOR NOAH That said, Noah was amazed that Trump had gotten involved after receiving a call from Kanye West. “You know, this is one of those moments where I genuinely cannot believe that we’re living in real life. No, because, like, listen to the story. Donald Trump, who is the president of the United States, got a call from his friend, Kanye West, to save a rapper from a Swedish prison. This sounds like a headline written by a newspaper on LSD.” — TREVOR NOAH “What’s so insane is how powerful Kanye West is in this situation. It’s like he uses his MAGA hat like a magic lamp and rubs it and Trump comes out and says, ‘What do you need?’” — TREVOR NOAH Jimmy Kimmel also had a hard time processing the influence apparently wielded by West and his wife, Kim Kardashian. “I feel like we don’t fully appreciate how weird it is that Kim and Kanye have a direct line to the president. It’s like — I don’t know what it’s like. It’s not like anything. It’s like if Nicole and Lionel Richie had a line to George Bush to tell him how to get out of Iraq.” — JIMMY KIMMEL “And I love that he added the dollar sign to ‘A$AP.’ The man doesn’t know the difference between ‘you’re’ and ‘your,’ but A$AP Rocky? Nails it, no problem.” — JIMMY KIMMEL “Over the weekend, Trump asked Sweden’s prime minister to free rapper ASAP Rocky from jail. Then Sweden’s prime minister was like, ‘We’re the home of Ikea — we don’t do anything ASAP.’” — JIMMY FALLON “At this rate, if Sweden keeps him locked up longer, he’ll have to change the dollar sign in his name to a euro.” — TREVOR NOAH “Donald Trump, he loves the Swedish. They’re responsible for his favorite type of massage, his favorite bikini team, and his favorite kind of fish.” — JIMMY KIMMEL “Because Swedish jail still means that you’re locked up, you don’t have your freedom and on top of that, they make you assemble all your own furniture. It’s heartless.”— TREVOR NOAH Kimmel’s monologue was interrupted by Margot Robbie, Brad Pitt and Leonardo DiCaprio, who were on their way to the premiere of their new film, “Once Upon a Time in Hollywood.” The presidential candidate Julián Castro (seen above in a December appearance with his twin brother Joaquin, the Texas representative) will chat with Stephen Colbert on “The Late Show.” Comedy Central’s late-night follow-up to “The Daily Show,” “Lights Out With David Spade,” premieres on Monday. The show could give Spade a kind of relevance he has never had before. |