If you like late night programing likeLate Night with Seth MeyersorLast Week Tonight with John Oliverbut can sometimes feel overwhelmed by the anxiety those topical shows can induce,The Amber Ruffin Showis here to make your day.
Streaming exclusively on Peacock (which is entirely free),The Amber Ruffin Showis a new late-night show hosted byLate Night with Seth Meyerswriter and on-camera standoutAmber Ruffin, who has become a highlight of the NBC staple with her segments like “Amber Says What?” Ruffin’s superpower is delivering incisive and extremely pointed political commentary in both sweet and silly ways, without ever undercutting her argument. That’s an incredibly difficult thing to do, but it’s the secret sauce that makesThe Amber Ruffin Showone of the best new late-night shows in recent memory.
The 24-minute first episode – which debuted on Friday, September 25th – opens with a short monologue, during which a visibly joyful Ruffin opines on everything from coronavirus to key differences betweenThe Amber Ruffin ShowandLate Night with Seth Meyers(hint: it involves dirty words). From there, Ruffin employs some playful banter with her announcer and sidekickTarik Davis, who is more than game to play along. These two opening bits are mainstays on most late-night programs, but there’s a level of “holy shit I can’t believe I have my own show” joy running just under the surface of everything that makesThe Amber Ruffin Showspecial. Along with, of course, Ruffin’s effervescent personality.
It’s digging into sketches where most late-night shows can go sideways in their early days, but the ones showcased in the first episode ofThe Amber Ruffin Showare hilarious, smart, and more than a little infuriating. It should come as no surprise to learn, then, that the show’s writing staff includes terrific comedic voices likeDemi Adejuyigbe,Shantira Jackson, andDewayne Perkins, with Ruffin’sLate NightcohortJenny Hagelserving as head writer (both Ruffin and Hagel continue to work onLate Night, andSeth MeyersandMike Shoemakerare EPs onThe Amber Ruffin Show).
In addition to Trump and the coronavirus, race is a significant point of interest in the show’s first episode, with a sketch involving a “White Forgiveness Countdown Clock” drilling down the seemingly unending string of transgressions against Black people. It is, like most of the show’s comedy, extremely funny and extremely aggravating in its truth.
Ruffin made headlines this summer when, in the midst of protests against police brutality and prejudice, Seth Meyers handed the beginning of every show for a week over to Ruffin to detail a different experience she’s had with the cops in the past. And withThe Amber Ruffin Show, she now has a platform to speak even more pointedly about these disturbing issues from a place of experience.
IfThe Amber Ruffin Showwere simply this — really funny and really incisive political commentary — that’d be enough to recommend it. But what makes this appointment viewing is how Ruffin chooses to end the show. Following an emotional direct address in which she tells the viewer (and Black people specifically) that “you matter” — a bold and open discussion on race that’s striking for just how plainspoken and empathetic it is — Ruffin presents a funny and genuinely relaxing segment called The Cool Down.
“Watching a show about current events can be real anxiety-inducing,” Ruffin says towards the show’s end. “And there’s nothing we want less than for you to leave our show all riled up.” Indeed, it’s here thatThe Amber Ruffin Showkind of underlines its mission statement. It’s going to getextremelyreal sometimes, but it will also be silly, and will always end in a way that sends you off in a good mood. And that’s kind of exactly what a lot of folks need right now. It’sLate Night with Seth MeyersmeetsMister Rogers’ Neighborhood.
So if you’re into laughter, silliness, and discussions about race and politics that get extremely candid, but you also kind of want a show in which the host downs an entire margarita when the credits roll, I cannot recommendThe Amber Ruffin Showenough. It is genuinely good for your health.
