Cardi Bs Tonight Show Co-Hosting Gig Was a Stroke of Brilliance

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These days, its hard to find even one uneventful evening in late-night—but even by todays standards, Monday night was one for the books. As always, there was the news item everyone was talking about—in this case, the F.B.I. raid on Michael Cohen. There was also Seth Meyers telling the story of how his wife gave birth to their son, Axel, in the lobby of their building—something viewers certainly dont hear about every day. And that Late Night broadcast actually followed something even more delightfully unpredictable: Cardi Bs turn as co-host of NBCs Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon.

Cardi Bs charisma has been well documented, but her appearance alongside Jimmy Fallon Monday night was a true tour de force of charm. She and Fallon tag-teamed the shows monologue, at one point taking turns riffing on a viral photo of Donald Trump, before the rapper made herself comfortable in Fallons chair. Cardi B is The Tonight Shows first co-host, so even though this was her third appearance on the program, viewers got to see a lot more of her than they normally would. She recorded an outgoing voice-mail message for a fan, read a passage from the popular childrens book Go the Fuck to Sleep in honor of her impending motherhood, and played a particularly hilarious round of the shows recurring game “Box of Lies.”

Naturally, as the whole co-hosting gig was set up for the purpose of promoting Cardi Bs debut studio album, Invasion of Privacy, the rapper performed before she left the Tonight Show. But her augmented role on the show was a stroke of genius. One of the most common critiques of contemporary late-night shows can be that they lack true spontaneity. With Cardi around, however, Tonight was infused, from start to finish, with an ecstatic, unpredictable energy. The most entertaining moment, by far, came when Cardi and Jimmy sat down to interview their guest, comedian John Mulaney.

As he took his seat, Mulaney offered Cardi B a gift from him and his wife—a tiny cardigan, otherwise known as a “Cardi G.” “This feels weird,” the rapper said with glee as she admired the sweater. “Babies are so little!”

Eventually, the conversation pivoted toward high-school proms—and while Mulaney and Fallon agreed that high-school proms are pretty lame, Cardi coyly rebutted, “I had a good prom.” She later elaborated . . . sort of.

“My boyfriend at the time, he dumped me two weeks before my prom . . . but I honestly think its because he didnt want to pay for the limo,” Cardi B said. “But then that night . . . Forget it.”

Mulaney and Fallon took turns guessing what happened. Did she see him again? Did someone pay for the limo? Was someone else in the limo? At one point, Mulaney volunteered, “You know, my nana drove me to prom.” Then the mystery got weirder. “You want to know something?” Cardi B said. “The limo that I ended up with? I didnt rent it.” The guessing began anew: did she buy a limo? Take a limo? “Forget it,” she said. “Kids watch me now.”

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