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Climate change took the spotlight across late night on Wednesday.
Stephen Colbert, Samantha Bee, James Corden, Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel, Seth Meyers and Trevor Noah united across networks for “Climate Night,” focusing their programming on one of the most pressing global issues today. Despite the serious subject matter, this is late night — and as such, there were jokes.
“I don’t want to die,” said Kimmel in a statement ahead of the event.
“In the interest of recycling, please use whatever Jimmy Kimmel said,” Fallon quipped.
“I’m thrilled to participate in Climate Night,” Bee shared. “But maybe we should move it up a few days? Just because, you know, it’s urgent?”
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“I’m proud to dedicate one entire night of my show to the climate, so I can say I wasn’t part of the problem, I was 1/365th of the solution,” said Colbert.
Several climate change activists and prominent voices on the issue appeared as guests across late night, from Dr. Jane Goodall on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Bill Gates on The Late Late Show With James Corden to Katharine Hayhoe, professor of political science at Texas Tech University, on Jimmy Kimmel Live!
When Gates was asked by Corden why he has not attempted to go near space as billionaires Richard Branson and Jeff Bezos have done, his answer was simple: “We have a lot to do here on Earth.”
Tonight on our special #ClimateNight episode, Bill Gates shares a very good reason for why you haven’t seen him in a rocket ship 🚀 pic.twitter.com/7C8cKarJl0
— The Late Late Show with James Corden (@latelateshow) September 23, 2021
Over on The Daily Show, Noah spoke with Swedish activist Greta Thunberg, who aside from her late night appearance is preparing for a global climate strike on Sept. 24, organized by her Fridays for Future movement.
During Meyers’ “Closer Look” segment, the host highlighted progressives in Congress pushing forward with a transformative $3.5 trillion spending plan that would invest heavily in climate infrastructure amid historic wildfires, droughts and flooding. As for Bee, she ensured Full Frontal did its part in the fight against climate change by powering the episode with a strong renewable resource — her quads.
Full Frontal wants to do its part in the fight against climate change! So tonight’s episode will be powered by the world’s strongest renewable resource: Sam’s quads. #ClimateNight pic.twitter.com/Grkif0z0xY
— Full Frontal (@FullFrontalSamB) September 22, 2021
Climate Night takes place during Climate Week NYC, the weeklong summit of global leaders and climate activists in New York City to promote actionable solutions. The evening was created by former Daily Show and Patriot Act showrunner Steve Bodow.
“Climate change has gone very fast from ‘probably the future,’ to ‘actually, right now’ — which means we all need to be talking and thinking about it much more,” said Bodow in a statement. “Late night hosts reflect our national conversation even more than Russian Twitter bots set it — so this incredible group of shows coming together makes a statement about the scale and urgency of the world’s hottest problem.”
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