Even for satirical shows, this was no easy task. After years of mercilessly lambasting Donald Trump – his taste for burgers, porn actresses and semantic outrageousness – late night shows, an American TV institution mixing humor and politics, had to navigate the shift of their favorite target's reelection.
Comedians got through it with sarcasm and a few notes of bitterness. On CBS, the popular Stephen Colbert, who pokes fun at current events four nights a week on The Late Show, said he felt "deep shock." But "at least there will be a peaceful transfer of power," he noted. "This is a democracy ... the majority has spoken, and they said they don't actually care that much about democracy." To reassure viewers, Colbert cited a Wall Street Journal article claiming that Trump is undisciplined and has trouble concentrating. Rather good news, in his view. "They might have promised to put immigrants in camps, but he doesn't have the concentration."
Seth Meyers, host of NBC's Late Night, noted that Trump is still awaiting sentencing in the case of payments to porn actress Stormy Daniels. "But for some reason, we're the ones getting four years." On ABC, Jimmy Kimmel staged himself packing his bags. He'd heard a voter explain that he'd voted for Trump because Kamala Harris had refused to appear on martial arts expert Joe Rogan's podcast. "And I'm like, where did I leave my passport?"
In his HBO show Real Time on Friday, stand-up comedian Bill Maher, an outspoken critic of "wokism," mocked the blindness of Democrats who thought a second Trump term was inconceivable. "They should have [known]: When does America ever turn down seconds?" Trump dominated in every category, winning the popular vote over his rival. "He 'grabbed' 52% of White women," Maher pointed out. "He also got their votes." The comedian also joked that Trump called the Georgia secretary of state to ask him to "lose him 11,000 votes"– not find them for him, like when he disputed the election result four years ago. Maher, who had indicated that he would vote for Kamala Harris, called on the losers to "look in the mirror." "This country has had enough of the anti-common-sense woke bullshit."
NBC's Saturday Night Live (SNL), the genre's ancestor created in 1975, ate its hat with laughing zeal. On November 2, three days before the election, SNL – which attracts around 5 million viewers every Saturday night – had hosted Kamala Harris for an empathetic sketch between her and Maya Rudolph, who has been playing her double since the start of the campaign, complete with a string of pearls and a pantsuit.
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