Watch The Strokes, Elvis Costello, the Chainsmokers, & More Read Mean Tweets On Kimmel
One of the most inspired running comedy bits in late-night television — a landscape increasingly dotted with not-particularly-inspired running comedy bits — is Mean Tweets, the Jimmy Kimmel Live franchise where famous people read angry shitposts about themselves and then give their most meme-friendly reaction faces. Musicians, for whatever reason, tend to be funnier than most other famous people, so this has led to some good stuff. (Rappers, for whatever reason, tend to be funnier than most other famous musicians, so this has led to some especially good stuff.)
Last night, presumably in conjunction with the American Music Awards, Kimmel unveiled yet another music-themed edition of Mean Tweets, starring a whiplash-inducing random grab bag of famous music people: The Strokes! Halsey! Jason DeRulo! Elvis Costello! Luke Bryan! Schoolboy Q! Nickelback! Korn! Gwen Stefani! The Kimmel people probably taped all these bits one by one, but it’s fun to imagine that they didn’t, and that they all had to share the same surreal green room.
Since Mean Tweets has become a competition to see who can become a meme, this one comes down to a dead heat between Jasons Mraz and DeRulo. But it’s probably worth doing a frame-by-frame analysis of the Strokes shot, just to break down which one is the most over this bullshit at any particular moment. Watch it all happen below.
Nickelback really brought the hammer down there.