Niall Horan excelled at his first hosting stint when he took over Jimmy Kimmel Live! on Tuesday night, but that didn’t mean he didn’t pepper in some self-deprecating jokes during his opening monologue.
“I’m not going to lie, I’m pretty anxious to be doing this. The last time a pale Irishman with no experience hosted a talk show, it was Conan O’Brien,” the former One Direction singer deadpanned. “The idea of me hosting a comedy show is interesting. I’m a pop star who has the reading age of a six-year-old, and has zero business being in front of a teleprompter.”
“It’s true,” Niall attested when the audience protested. “As a small child, I was pulled out of school for worldwide fame and fortune when a deal was made with a powerful demon, or as you mortals call him, Simon Cowell.”
Then, it was the “Slow Hands” singer to poke fun at his audience by mocking America’s obsession with the Irish and even sent out a camera crew to roam the streets of Hollywood to ask strangers about what they knew about his home country.
Turns out, the random participants knew very little about Ireland, with no one able to name two Irish cities, explain who St. Patrick was… or even identify Niall as the sole Irish member of One Direction.
During his late night debut, Niall also took on the Jonas Brothers in a ridiculous game of golf, chatted with Lizzo about how they both got their start as part of music groups and also bonded with Ted Lasso star Cristo Fernandez over football — noting how they both don’t like that Americans call the sport “soccer.”
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