Tucker: Trump looking at eclipse w/out eyewear was "perhaps the most impressive thing any president has ever done." https://t.co/en2CdUs859 pic.twitter.com/kL5i6L9X7I

“In a move that is not a complete surprise, he looked at the sun without any glasses,” Carlson gushed. “Perhaps the most impressive thing any president has ever done.”

Carlson was joking, it turned out. His comments, he said in a statement on Tuesday, were “a test to see if liberals are really as slow and humorless as people claim. Turns out they are.”

Still, given Carlson’s history of praising Trump, the humor was a little tough to spot.

Indeed, before his show even aired, humor writer Jason O. Gilbert tweeted a mock screencap showing Carlson praising Trump for going blind while looking at the eclipse:

Preview of tonight’s Tucker Carlson pic.twitter.com/DawbInUrWl — Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 21, 2017

When Carlson made the comments, Gilbert tweeted:

Oh my God https://t.co/D9rqXC3GhI — Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 22, 2017

Do I get royalties for this or what — Jason O. Gilbert (@gilbertjasono) August 22, 2017

Others were similarly confused where the satire ended and reality began:

Parody became reality tonight. Thanks, Tucker. pic.twitter.com/GSRc7Vdk2N — Jim Swift (@JSwiftTWS) August 22, 2017

Is this for real? Damnn, Fox News going low budget Comedy Central. — Peace✌❤ (@DVOS580) August 22, 2017

This is not satire. This is not satire. This is not satire. https://t.co/0RUAKEhscb — Brooke Binkowski (@brooklynmarie) August 22, 2017

The 'most impressive thing any president has ever done' is what I was trying to keep my 6yo from doing. https://t.co/KuhmWeYQlU — Jason Torchinsky (@JasonTorchinsky) August 22, 2017

Others clearly saw it as a joke:

So are journalists pretending not to understand Tucker's ridiculously obvious joke or are they really that stupid? I honestly don't know. — Mollie (@MZHemingway) August 22, 2017

It's comments like this that make me think Tucker Carlson might actually be a character comic, deftly satirising Fox with his absurdism. pic.twitter.com/akw5Lt5a1W — Tim Cooper (@tscooper11) August 22, 2017

I don't think they get Tucker. He was winking so hard they missed it — IveGotThis (@ivegotthisK) August 22, 2017

99% sure Tucker Carlson trolled some large segment of his enemies — Thomas (@Sabinowitz) August 22, 2017

Clarification: The Tuesday statement from Fox News was from Carlson, not a spokesperson as previously stated.