Late-night comedies humorously respond to election madness

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert

By: Molly Farrar

Stephen Colbert is not a fan of President Donald Trump. The weeknight show takes every opportunity to poke fun at the president, from Colbert’s spot-on impression to interviewing critical Democratic candidates on live television.

This year’s election special aired on SHOWTIME at 11 p.m. Tuesday and took the candidates’ slogans as a satirical stab at the election itself. The teaser for “Stephen Colbert’s Election Night 2020: Democracy’s Last Stand: Building Back America Great Again Better 2020” includes Colbert in a face mask, measuring out 6 feet of distance and joking about the future of America — or the lack of one.

Colbert’s 2016 election special saw his planned jokes — based on predictions of a Hillary Clinton presidency — immediately lose relevance in the wake of Trump’s victory. This time, Colbert had prepared his election special for both results, taking the satire and comedy out of a potentially damaging election result.

Colbert’s special included live updates of CBS’s “America Decides” with Norah O’Donnell, John Dickerson, Gayle King and Margaret Brennan. Colbert was virtually connected to the panel, and he cracked some jokes while asking solid questions to get legitimate election results, adding a lighter air than the rest of CBS News’ coverage.

In many respects, Colbert is done with the jokes. After choosing not to watch this year’s Republican National Convention, he said on his show: “Why should we pay attention to what they’re saying if none of what they’re saying tonight is about what’s happening in America right now? Why should we watch their reality show if it doesn’t reflect our reality?”

His show also had a type of informality — Colbert chatted with off-camera crew members during his audience-less show, giving a sense of humanness and honesty on a hectic election night full of questions. With f-bombs, celebrity guests and Colbert’s own full personality, his special didn’t disappoint.

Colbert’s special on Tuesday night was filled with comedy, satire and a sizable dose of seriousness along with political analysis to tie his show together throughout the turbulent election night, week or weeks.

Late Night with Seth Meyers

By: Jonas Hayes

Seth Meyers, former host of Saturday Night Live’s Weekend Update, has been hosting “Late Night with Seth Meyers” on NBC since 2014. His show is not unlike other late-night shows — his guests are either entertainment celebrities or sports stars, with the occasional politician. When the pandemic began, Meyers moved his show into his home, but recently returned to a studio without an audience.

His “A Closer Look” segment aims to break down complex political issues, and has recently examined the presidential election, debates, Trump’s rallies and the president’s handling of the pandemic.

Meyers, who openly supports the Democratic Party, is no stranger to criticizing and poking fun at the GOP. He finds humor in the webs spun by political leaders to rile up the masses. While Meyers didn’t host a special on Tuesday, he covered the activities of Trump and his close campaign members leading up to election night in Monday’s installment entitled, “The 2020 Election Is Here — and Trump Is Trying to Steal It: A Closer Look”

The segment does put the election into perspective, but barely. The content is reflective of a normal night during the Trump presidency, in which Meyers uses his Trump impression often as a punchline. He spent much time on Trump’s pure ridiculousness, rather than the complexities and predicted results for the next day’s election.

Meyers really gets a laugh when he lets Trump speak for himself. He calls out the president’s mindless rambles at rallies and his mob-like crowd of followers, while addressing Trump’s claims of voter fraud and what we’ll know on election night. He ends on a more serious note, simply saying, “This is our chance to put an end to the cruelty, the abuses of power and the criminal neglect.”

Last Week Tonight with John Oliver

By: Cameron Morsberger

Comedian John Oliver has talked about coronavirus on television a handful of times this year, and his election coverage was no different.

“Last Week Tonight with John Oliver” aired its last episode before Election Day on Sunday — a two-part installment, the first part in which Oliver discussed Trump’s response to the coronavirus. The episode, which premiered on HBO but is free to watch on YouTube, featured an in-depth look on how the president has handled the COVID-19 pandemic since its arrival to the U.S.

In his usual fashion, Oliver showed humorous photoshopped pictures to lighten topics of upsetting statistics or concerning testimonials from Trump supporters. For example, before sharing that the U.S., despite making up four percent of the global population, contains a fifth of the world’s coronavirus cases and projecting a video of people defending Trump’s pandemic response, Oliver made a joke about Trump hypothetically dispersing his urine as “immunity juice,” gearing his audience up for the rest of the upsetting realities that await this year.

Oliver reminds viewers of Trump’s countless early missteps in his reaction to COVID-19, outlining his preparation, coordination and communication — or lack thereof. Despite being a comedian, Oliver and his research team present sources and quotes upfront on screen after nearly every fact Oliver shares, morphing the program more so into news commentary than a comedic bit.

Like other prominent late night hosts, Oliver is passionate in his anti-Trump messaging, and presents a damning case against the president.

The Daily Show with Trevor Noah

By: Colin Boyd

As this year’s long-awaited election became reality, hopes and fears from the American public coalesced into a massive heap of uncertainty. To quell some of the tension, “The Daily Show with Trevor Noah” hosted a live and comedic coverage of the election Tuesday night.

The episode, entitled “Votegasm 2020: What Could Go Wrong? (Again),” was a continuation of previous coverage by “The Daily Show” on the election. The hour-long episode began streaming on “The Daily Show”’s Facebook, YouTube and Twitter accounts at 11 p.m.

In addition to live coverage, “The Daily Show” provided updates across the show’s social media platforms as the night continued. The episode, hosted by Noah, featured guest interviews and additional coverage from “The Daily Show” news team.

Live coverage of elections has been a lasting tradition at “The Daily Show,” dating back to the 2000 election, when it was hosted by Jon Stewart.

Much of the episode’s humor centered around the uncertainty of the election, and the stress shared between the show’s hosts and those interviewed throughout the episode. With updates coming in slowly, the humor additionally included a focus on the downtime between results.

The tongue-in-cheek comedy extended to include a number of jokes centered around the pandemic. The episode also highlighted the changes that COVID-19 forced upon the election process.

Updates to the election were met with various jabs from Noah, including a mention of Sen. Lindsey Graham as a “confederate monument” of the South, following his victory in South Carolina.

Though the results of the election remained undecided by the end of the episode, Noah ended with a quip about how the episode is just “night one of our seven-week Election Day coverage, because this shit’s going to go for a while.”