NEW YORK DAILY NEWS

Thursday, August 17, 2017, 12:05 PM

How did we get here?

There was a time when late night TV shows like "The Tonight Show" and "Jimmy Kimmel Live!" were a light respite from harsh realities.

In recent weeks, the one following the Unite the Right rally in Charlottesville, Va., in particular, hosts of once-fun talk shows broke from their usual hilarity to get serious about the news.

Jimmy Fallon, who was criticized during Donald Trump's campaign for tousling the reality-star-turned-politician's infamous coiffe in September 2016, fought back tears as he recalled watching white supremacists and neo-Nazis spew hatred over the weekend.

Jimmy Fallon skips the jokes while addressing Charlottesville

Kimmel follow suit, half-joking that following a series of questionably sincere statements from Trump, Americans were left questioning his alliances.

"We went into the weekend wondering about Kim Jong Un starting a war. We came out of it wondering if our president was cutting eyeholes in his bedsheets," he said.

For Fallon and Kimmel, the events that unfolded in Charlottesville served as something of a turning point.

Early in Trump's campaign both late night TV hosts regularly took jabs at the New York real estate mogul. Fallon repeatedly donned a wig in the same style as Trump's hair while Kimmel often mocked his inability to put his ego aside while delivering speeches.

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As the President's wild ride continues, both slowly began taking a harsher stance.

On May 2, amid cries from Trump to "repeal and replace" Obamacare, Kimmel broke down in tears about his newborn son's health issues.

He praised congress for opting "to not go along with" the president's proposal to cut the National Institutes of Health's budget by $6 billion, noting that no family should have to fear losing their child because they can't afford care.

"If your baby is going to die and it doesn't have to, it shouldn't matter how much money you make," Kimmel said. "I think that's something that whether you're a Republican or a Democrat or something else, we all agree on that, right?"

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Fallon's defining moment came in the wake of Trump's July Twitter proposal to ban transgender military service personnel.

Rather than skewer the president himself, Fallon invited trans comedian Patti Harrison to throw a few comedic punches for him.

As the Trump administration's reign wages on, it's becoming increasingly apparent to late night viewers that they can no longer tune in and zone out to "Tonight Show" games of Kimmel's wildly popular "Lie Witness News."

Trump's campaign actively divided the nation and now, it's creating a rift among late night TV shows.

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While "The Tonight Show" and "Live with Jimmy Kimmel!" are relatively newly woke, other late night show runners have been utilizing their platform to make people laugh while also keeping them in the loop.

Early in Trump's presidency,Seth Meyers, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver decided they weren't going to cut Trump any slack.

The "Late Night" host delivered an especially moving post-Charlottesville Trump takedown, bashing the president's decision to point fingers at "many sides" following the rally, which left one dead.

"On many sides," Meyers said quoting the president. "If that choice of words made you feel sick to your stomach, the good news is you're a normal and decent person. The jury is still out on the president, as he initially refused to condemn the white supremacist movement in this country."

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On "The Late Show With Stephen Colbert," the host has made a point to call out Trump and his cohorts at every turn since he announced his candidacy in 2015, growing more and more vocal as time passed.

In February the former "Colbert Report" host tackled Trump's first solo press conference. During the speech, the president suggested that he had "inherited a mess," which didn't sit right with Colbert.

"No, you inherited a fortune. We elected a mess. For the record," Colbert said.

For his part, Oliver has delivered a number of scathing Trump-centric "Last Week Tonight" speeches, though perhaps his most memorable comments on the matter came right after Charlottesville.

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Using his usual brand of British sarcasm to his benefit, Oliver slammed Trump's failure to denounce Nazis right off the bat.

"I've got to say, David Duke and the Nazis really seem to like Donald Trump," he said. "Which is weird, because Nazis are a lot like cats; if they like you, it's probably because you're feeding them.

The trio has, in the weeks and months since those poignant on-and-off-air moments, continued to cover Trump and his administration in great detail, regularly tackling disparaging policy proposals, potentially illegal acts and more.

The trio continues to pave the way in late night time slots, refusing to back down for the sake of bipartisan viewership. Only time will tell if the others continue to hold their ground.

Continued here:

The evolution of late night TV shows under Donald Trump - New York Daily News