Late-night TV's live election coverage was remarkably similar

The Ringer

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, Late Night with Seth Meyers, Jimmy Kimmel Live! and The Daily Show with Trevor Noah all went live on election night to react to the midterms, while Jimmy Fallon and James Corden opted to sit the night out since their shows are less politically oriented. "Across different networks, time slots, and sensibilities, the late-night hosts who covered the 2018 midterm election still seemed like they were working from an identical playbook," says Alison Herman. "To start, there were the self-aware jokes about how wrong things could go. Then, there were the gags: about stress drinking, about cable news conventions, about Ted Cruz. As the results solidified enough to offset fears of false confidence, there was cautious optimism. And finally, as the news slowed to a trickle, the broadcasts pivoted into just another episode of a regular talk show." ALSO: Late-night beat TV News as its own game on election night.