Kamala Harris has appeared on the major late-night shows more than 20 times in the last five years and the hope from the talk community is that she’ll be back for more as she seeks the Presidency.
Harris’ battle to beat Donald Trump to become President of the United States of America has already given late-night more momentum as the country enters the last 100 days of the campaign.
Harris, whose most recent appearance was on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in June (her third), has also appeared on shows including The Late Show with Stephen Colbert (eight times including sketches), Late Night with Seth Meyers (five times), and twice on The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and The Daily Show as well as one on the now-canceled Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God.
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It’s not a late-night show, but Harris is fresh from an appearance on RuPaul’s Drag Race, where she encouraged people to get out and vote.
She clearly believes it’s a good medium to get her message across, from Slow Jamming the News with Fallon or doing a Mood Mix with Colbert.
Deadline understands that a number of these late-night shows, many of which are currently on a summer hiatus, are now putting together their case for Harris to return to the evening chat scene over the next three months.
One late-night showrunner told Deadline that they didn’t believe Harris would do any late-night appearances before the Democratic National Convention (DNC), which runs August 19-22 in Chicago, but may be more open to the invitation after that.
“I would not be surprised if she did the late-night tour,” added another.
Harris has clearly enjoyed many of her late-night appearances if her laugh is anything to go by (even if Trump seems to think her having a sense of humor is a bad thing).
Her appearance on Jimmy Kimmel Live! in June – her first during this election cycle – was a mixture of serious policy chat, reacting to Donald Trump’s 34 felony convictions and some jokes, particularly when she discovered there was a strain of cannabis – Kamala Kush – named after her.
“The reality is, cheaters don’t like getting caught and being held accountable,” she said, a point that she continues to make.
Harris’ previous late-night appearances have been a mixture of serious conversations, particularly around when she was running to become the Democratic nominee for President in the 2020 race, and frivolity.
For instance, in 2019, she appeared on The Tonight Show with Fallon to Slow Jam The News, saying she’d “wipe the floor” with Trump during a debate.
She was also evidently having fun on The Late Show with her own Mood Mix, where she namechecked some of her favorite musical artists including Tribe Called Quest, Prince, Beyonce, Aretha Franklin, Kendrick Lamar, Funkadelic, Bob Marley and the Wailers and Salt-n-Pepa
Harris has appeared on Late Night with Seth Meyers multiple times, including most recently as Vice President in October 2022, where she talked about marijuana legislation and abortion rights ahead of the 2022 midterms. During her first appearance on The Daily Show, then hosted by Trevor Noah, she talked about small business policies, trafficking and immigration reform as well having to deal with the press’ take on her barbecue order and clothing choices, while her second, in October 2020, was largely focused on the pandemic.
However, she has also faced some challenges in late-night. Her appearance on Hell of a Week with Charlamagne Tha God was more fraught than other spots. Charlamagne accused her of becoming less visible as VP, saying that it felt like she had “disappeared” and possibly even “silenced”. Harris hit back at this suggestion, but the appearance created a controversial press cycle thanks to questions about Senator Joe Manchin.
But it was an appearance on The Tonight Show back in September 2019 that might have been most integral to her current campaign. Pop star Charli XCX, whose new album is one of the most buzzed about of the summer, said “kamala IS brat”, an endorsement that will undoubtedly help her standing with younger voters. Harris was, in fact, on the NBC late-night show alongside Charli XCX, a night that might have helped cement that feeling.