PoliticsKaroline Leavitt’s White House Exit Becomes Late-Night’s New Running Gag
Late-night hosts joked about Karoline Leavitt leaving the White House.
Aug. 18 2026, Published 7:31 a.m. ET
Karoline Leavitt is leaving the White House, and late night has more angles than they can fit into a single monologue.
The outgoing White House press secretary announced Wednesday that she will step down at the end of the month to spend more time with her family after giving birth to her second child in May. President Donald Trump said he respected the decision, but Jimmy Fallon and Jimmy Kimmel Live! guest host Anthony Anderson had other ideas.
Fallon Finds the Timing
Jimmy Fallon connected Karoline Leavitt’s departure to the administration’s recent headlines.
On The Tonight Show, Fallon riffed on reports that Trump was surprised by Leavitt’s decision and did not want her to leave.
“Between the non-stop White House construction and Trump, she wanted to be around something quieter: a baby,” Fallon joked.
“Trump was surprised by Leavitt’s decision,” Fallon said. “She was like, ‘I wanted to wait for a good time, but there hasn’t been one.’”
Fallon then tied the resignation to the week’s other recurring Trump bit: the reported catering-truck plane switch in Turkey. He joked that when choosing a new press secretary, Trump now has to ask, “Who am I OK being stuck inside a catering truck with?”
Anthony Anderson Goes Personal
Anthony Anderson turned Karoline Leavitt’s family life into another punchline.
On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, Anderson aimed at Leavitt’s home life and her age-gap marriage to real estate developer Nicholas Riccio.
“She said she wants to spend more time lying to her family,” Anderson said.
“Leavitt has a toddler and a baby and a husband who’s 32 years older than her,” he continued. “So, between that and working for Trump, it was just too many diapers to change.”
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He also mocked the search for Karoline Leavitt’s replacement as White House press secretary.
He also mocked the search for her replacement.
“We don’t know who the new press secretary will be or which beauty pageant she is the runner-up in,” he joked.
When One Joke Becomes a Schedule
Experts said the jokes could persist as long as the story remained relevant.
“A running gag is a very different problem than a bad news day. A news story has a decay curve. A running gag has a schedule,” said Amore Philip, founder of Apples and Oranges Public Relations.
“Comedy writers are not coordinating, they are all recognizing the same easy shape,” Philip explained.
“What makes the switcheroo framing durable is that it is simple, visual, and requires no policy knowledge to get,” she added. “That is the profile of a joke that survives, and it is why it jumped from one monologue to a shared premise across shows.”
The solution, she said, is not to argue with the bit.
“Running gags die when the underlying image stops being available, so you replace the footage people are working from with something that does not fit the premise,” Philip said. “That takes weeks, not hours, and it requires the discipline to stop commenting on it in the meantime.”
