John Leguizamo (Violent Night) sat at the anchor’s desk at The Daily Show Monday night (March 28) for his first shot at hosting the iconic late-night program. The actor will be there all week as Comedy Central continues to cycle through guest hosts, including Leslie Jones, Al Franken, and Hasan Minhaj, since the start of the year.
Leguizamo got things going by proving to the audience that they still have much to learn regarding Latine history. “I’m especially glad to be hosting during Hispanic Heritage Month,” Leguizamo said as the crowd cheered in support. The problem is Hispanic Heritage Month starts in September.
“No, no, no, come on,” Leguizamo responded, cutting off the applause. “That was moronic. It’s not Hispanic Heritage Month. That’s in September. That was a test, y’all! Oh, my God. I have a lot to teach you this week.”
During the opening news section, Leguizamo talked about everything from Donald Trump (“The man so bad at sex, he pays people not to talk about it”) to George Santos (“We can’t really take blame for this guy because we don’t really know if he’s Latino or not”).
One of the best segments of Monday night’s episode was a pre-recorded skit where Leguizamo plays himself auditioning for a role in front of three white casting professionals, which Leguizamo also played in costume. The Menu star wanted to give audiences an idea of what he heard during auditions over his career.
“John, I almost forgot you’re not white,” one of the casting directors says. Another says, “Very articulate, no accents.” Another one adds: “Just do what you did on The George Lopez Show,” which calls for Leguizamo to tell him that he wasn’t in that sitcom.
Later, as his guest for the evening, John Leguizamo interviewed political strategist Ana Navarro. “Look at that – a Latina guest and a Latino host,” Leguizamo said. “To the people at home, you’re not watching Univision.”