The American Thanksgiving prompts most late night shows to take off this week, or at least Friday (and Thursday). Conan is pre-empted all week, and many shows will be pre-empted on Thursday.
Of this week’s repeats, one is from the various segments from last week that I couldn’t (or didn’t) mention last Monday. On the November 14th edition of @midnight, the #HashtagWars segment was #ScienceCelebs. Contestants (and the audience) would suggests celebrity names that have been ‘scienced’ up, such as ‘Bunsen’ Bernie Sanders. The audience winning entry (announced on the 15th) was Quantum Tarantino. You can watch the whole episode again on Wednesday’s rerun. There is censored swearing.
The other reruns of note this week are on Thursday. Adam Conover’s recent appearance on The Late Show is scheduled. He hosts a show on TruTV that tests common assumptions about things. That night on The Late Late Show you can see Neil deGrasse Tyson’s appearance from September. Speaking of Tyson, tonight (Monday) on Star Talk is actor Ben Stiller. At least part of the episode deals with the science of comedy (a topic the show addressed before when Larry Wilmore was the guest).
I was wrong about not including a couple of guests last week. On the November 14th edition of The Daily Show, both Nate Silver and Adrian Grenier were guests. Silver was on to try and explain how he really didn’t get things wrong about the election (and host Trevor Noah did try to hold his feet to the fire). However, Grenier was not on to discuss his acting roles, but his Lonely Whale Foundation, which is focused on education and awareness around the ocean environment. On Thursday the 17th, both The Late Show and Conan had unexpected science content. Stephen Colbert welcomed bear expert Jeff Watson. No bears were shown live in studio, and the segment was – at least for me – focused on the science of bears and bear attacks in a way I didn’t expect. An excerpt of their conversation is available online. On the same episode, Colbert discusses President-elect Trump’s prospective climate change policies.
Also of note from last week is Conan O’Brien’s visit to a YouTube Virtual Reality lab. It aired during his November 17th broadcast. As is his custom, O’Brien makes it weird and awkward.
There are a couple of new guests to note. Michael Weatherly is on The Late Show tonight (Monday). He plays a jury consultant on Bull who uses technology to analyze actual and potential jurors. On Tuesday Stephen will welcome James Marsden, who is a star of the HBO science fiction show Westworld. He may or may not play a robot (I’ve not been watching the show)
Pasco Phronesis 