Normally, the “Amber Says What” segment is one of the more joyous pieces of “Late Night.” But on Tuesday, Ruffin really had to muster the strength to get through it, considering the results of the presidential election.
“I’m sorry, what?” she said in a daze as host Seth Meyers threw the show over to her. “We’re still doing this?”
When Meyers questioned what she meant, she clarified, “This. Like, life and work and stuff. Are we still … we still doing all this?”
Meyers confirmed that yes, the show had to go on, and reminded her that she wrote the segment already, prompting her to shoot back that she wrote the jokes before the election. But, with a large groan, she started the bit.
She did have a false start, joking that she simply couldn’t fake the enthusiasm needed for the bit, before reading some inspirational quotes from her Instagram. With that, she got started in earnest.
“You guys! Things have been crazy. First of all, Olivia Rodrigo fell through a hole in the stage during one of her concerts. And I was like, what?!” she said. “Then Coldplay fell through a hole in one of his concerts. That’s his name, right? John Coldplay? And I was like, what? You know who else fell into a hole? America. We ain’t never getting out.”
As the segment progressed, nearly every set up ended in a punchline about the impending doom America faces from Trump, but in the end, Ruffin offered some real feelings, though she joked it was another inspirational quote from Instagram user “ButtSniffer72.”
“In times like these, our communities must stand together. White, black, Latinx, LGBTQ+, minorities, all of us,” she said somberly. “This election was terrible, but it has the power to unite us all, and we are so very capable. It’s in times like these I’m happy I grew up Black in America, because if I did that, I know I can do anything.”
You can watch Amber Ruffin’s full “Amber Says What” in the video above.
