As Election Day came and went without a clear winner, late-night comedians struck a resilient note and urged audiences to settle in for a long democratic slog.
“Well, folks, it looks like we’ve reached the end of the show and we still don’t know who won,” Stephen Colbert said, wrapping up his live election night special. “It’s like Christmas Eve, and not just because of the judgmental fat guy with the red hat.”
On the Showtime special, “Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020,” Colbert said that the country is waiting to see whether it will get the present it has been hoping for: “a boring president.”
“I’m going to say something a little controversial, so don’t get mad at me,” Colbert told viewers. “It’s actually a good thing we don’t know who won yet.”
Because of the massive voter turnout, he said, it will take time to know who won the White House, and people deserve to have their votes counted.
“Millions of you braved the pandemic, an army of poll watchers, even the Post Office just to make sure you got to vote. Each and every one of those ballots deserve to be counted,” Colbert said. “We’ve been able to wait for this moment since November of 2016, and many of you waited in line for hours to make your voices heard. So I know all of us have what it takes to wait a little bit longer.”
Colbert then raised a glass to the audience and signed off for the night.
Over on Comedy Central’s “The Daily Show,” host Trevor Noah greeted viewers in his “election fallout shelter.”
“We are live, and you know how you we’re live? I’ve already thrown up on myself and I’ve had time to clean it up,” Noah said on his Tuesday night special, “Votegasm 2020: What Could Go Wrong? (Again).”
Noah ended his broadcast by thanking viewers for tuning into “night one of our seven-week election day coverage.”
“This sh** is going to go for a while, people. Brace yourselves,” Noah said. “Every day we’re going to be counting the votes and then after that, we’re going to be following the lawsuits. Get some rest, sober up and we’ll catch you again tomorrow.”
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