Late-night hosts discussed midterm results with measured enthusiasm as Democrats take control of the House

This article is more than 1 year old

This article is more than 1 year old

Late-night hosts all went live on the night of the midterms to provide running commentary as results came in.

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Seth Meyers

On Late Night with Seth Meyers, the host said that while it wasn’t quite the blue wave many had hoped for, “it was at least a blue ripple”.

He continued: “If you’ve been in the desert for two years then a little splash of water feels like a damn tsunami.”

The Democrats gaining control of the House is “a huge development for a number of reasons” and Meyers linked it back to the messaging that was provided before people had the chance to vote.

“Democrats’ closing message was primarily about healthcare,” he said. “Trump on the other hand tried to scare people with racist conspiracy theories about the migrant caravan heading toward the southern border.”

In his last rally, Trump said that talking about the economy is often seen as boring. “Dude, the economy is your number one job,” Meyers said. “It’s like getting in an Uber and hearing your driver say: ‘Sometimes it’s not exciting to keep your eyes on the road.’”

Fox News host Sean Hannity came under fire for joining Trump on stage at a rally, and Meyers took issue with Hannity pretending that he didn’t know it would happen. “You ran up on stage like a contestant on The Price is Right,” he said. “You just flew all the way to Missouri on a lark.”

Trump also brought on Ivanka Trump, Rush Limbaugh and Jeanine Pirro. “All they’re missing is Magneto hovering over them,” he said.

Stephen Colbert

On The Late Show, Stephen Colbert opened with the news that the Democrats had control of the House which means they can now target Trump with a string of investigations. “We’ll finally find out if Donald Trump has ever done anything unethical,” he said.

Colbert continued: “So apparently voters responded to the Democrats’ call to expand healthcare more than Trump’s core message: Latinos are coming to hit you in the face with rocks.”

One of the Democratic losses was in Tennessee where Taylor Swift-backed Phil Bredesen failed to secure a victory. “I guess Tay-Tay didn’t have much sway-sway,” he said.

There was also a big win for Idris Elba, who was named People’s sexiest man alive. “It is a harsh repudiation of the incumbent Blake Shelton, whose victory last year sent shockwaves through the sexy community,” he said.

Jimmy Kimmel

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, the host said: “I think we can all agree that the big loser this year is all of our Thanksgiving dinners.”

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Reports suggested that Trump was placing a lot of the blame for the House result on Paul Ryan. “He’s said to be so disappointed in the speaker of the House, he might start calling him Don Jr,” Kimmel said.

In preparation for the inevitable subpoena, Kimmel said that Trump has “spent all night frantically stuffing his tax returns in Mike Pence’s mouth”.

He then moved on to the race in Texas. “A firearm license in Texas is an acceptable form of voter ID, but a college identification card is not which tells you almost everything you need to know about politics in Texas,” he said.

Kimmel described the race as between “punk rock newcomer Beto O’Rourke and human blob fish Tex Cruz” before revealing that Cruz is only one year older.

“Ted Cruz is the only vampire who ages faster than a human being,” he joked.