Posted on 11 March 2021
The Bidens are in the White House, but NBC's Late Night with Seth Meyers is still stuck on mocking the Trumps. The Bidens were honored guests. The Trumps are just grist for hate.
Since leaving the White House, former First Lady Melania Trump has opened The Office of Melania Trump which, according to CNN, serves to continue her "Be Best", "three-pillared initiative, consisting of children's health and well-being, safety online and prevention of social media bullying and the impact of the opioid crisis on children."
It's not unusual for a former First Lady to try and continue some of the initiatives they were known for in the White House, but for Meyers and his Melania Trump impersonator Amber Ruffin, none of that mattered on Tuesday night. Instead, it was an opportunity to portray Melania as the stereotypically dumb supermodel in a way that if the party affiliation of her husband was reversed, would probably have been widely denounced as sexist. (If a white woman impersonated Michelle Obama, it might be seen as racist. But then, NBC used a white guy to play Obama on Saturday Night Live in an unfunny way....)
None of this routine was funny. Meyers began by asking the Melania impersonator, "Okay, right off the bat, because I know, you know, people have talked about look-alikes and whatnot, I have to ask, are you the real Melania Trump?" Ruffin replied, "I'm as real as the Office of Melania Trump."
The two continued in their dismissiveness with Meyers wondering what goes on at the Office of Melania Trump. Ruffin retorted, "What don't we do? At the Office of Melania Trump, we work tirelessly one to one-and-a-half days a week."
Meyers continued to pretend to be annoyed that "Melania" was not answering his questions and Ruffin continued to portray her as clueless:
MEYERS: Seth: Yeah, but what does the Office of Melania Trump do
RUFFIN: "But what does the Office of Melania Trump do," you may be asking.
MEYERS: I just asked that .
RUFFIN: Do they do consulting work? Accounting? Can they represent me in court? The answer to that question is, how much money do you have?
Meyers, still not satisfied with "Melania's" answers, continued to wonder what the office exists to do. Ruffin concluded her humorless parody by proclaiming, "We offer tasks, checklists, a wide array of verbs and nouns. This, that, all of what is over there, every single stuff that thing we do and, of course, our specialties. That's right, if you're looking for some of it, we may just be what you're listening to right now. The Office of Melania Trump: it has walls."
Meyers and Ruffin's segment may have had a touch of sexism in it, but at least they didn't refuse to refer to Jill Biden as Dr. Jill Biden.
This segment was sponsored by TurboTax.
Here is a transcript for the March 10 show:
NBC
Late Night with Seth Meyers
12:41 AM ET
SETH MEYERS: Recently former First Lady Melania trump announced she is opening the Office of Melania Trump. Here to talk about it, please welcome Melania Trump.
AMBER RUFFIN [MELANIA TRUMP IMPERSONATION]: Oooooooooh! Hello, greetings to you.
MEYERS: Okay, right off the bat, because I know, you know, people have talked about look-alikes and whatnot, I have to ask, are you the real Melania Trump?
RUFFIN: I'm as real as the Office of Melania Trump.
MEYERS: Yeah, so about your office what is it that you do there?
RUFFIN: What don't we do? At the office of Melania Trump, we work tirelessly one to one and a half days a week.
MEYERS: Seth: Yeah, but what does the Office of Melania Trump do
RUFFIN: "But what does the Office of Melania Trump do," you may be asking
MEYERS: I just asked that
RUFFIN: Do they do consulting work? Accounting? Can they represent me in court? The answer to that question is, how much money do you have?
MEYERS: Yeah, but that's not an answer.
RUFFIN: The Office of Melania Trump -- the only office that will have you saying, "Where is it?"
MEYERS: Why would I need to know where it is.
RUFFIN: So you can enjoy our services
MEYERS: Here we go. Which are?
RUFFIN: Thank you for asking. We love our customers!
MEYERS: Who are your customers?
RUFFIN: No one! Anyone! The Office of Melania Trump welcomes people of all types of person.
MEYERS: I need you to be more specific about what you do there.
RUFFIN: You need me.
MEYERS:: Oh, my God.
RUFFIN: Seth, the answers to your questions is in the wind it's in the smile of a child it's in the laugh of a baby. The Office of Melania Trump is in us all.
MEYERS: See, I thought you'd be excited to finally be out of the spotlight. Why would you start up a business anyway?
RUFFIN: Whoa, whoa, whoa, no one said we were a business
MEYERS: Then what is the Office of Melania Trump?
RUFFIN: Here is a list of the many things we offer.
MEYERS: Thank you .
RUFFIN: We offer tasks, checklists, a wide array of verbs and nouns. This, that, all of what is over there, every single stuff that thing we do and, of course, our specialties. That's right, if you're looking for some of it, we may just be what you're listening to right now. The Office of Melania Trump: it has walls.
MEYERS: Melania Trump, everybody. We'll be right back with Don Johnson.
RUFFIN [IMPERSONATION]: I'll be right back with myself