Late Night Hosts Tackle Biden Debate Fallout: “I Don’t Know What’s the Right Thing to Do Here”

Stephen Colbert

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Late night shows returned following a hiatus on Monday night, giving hosts Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers and Jimmy Fallon their first chances to react to last month’s presidential debate.

“So should he stay, should he go? Who am I to recommend,” Colbert said on the Late Show. “I don’t know what’s going on in Joe Biden‘s mind. Something I apparently have in common with Joe Biden.”

Fallout from Biden and Trump’s debate was swift, with many criticizing the president’s faltering performance and some calling for him to step down from seeking reelection. Colbert’s show satirized the situation with a prerecorded sketch, “Play Mystery Candidate Today,” a spoofed vintage game show for choosing a new president.

In his monologue, Colbert addressed claims that Biden’s bad performance was the result of a cold. “Oh, I hate those summer colds where your voice gets hoarse and your brain explodes,” he said.

In response to reports that the president would stop doing events after 8 p.m., Colbert said, “So the state dinners are all going to be early bird specials? Also, which 8 p.m., sir? East Coast, West Coast, Moscow? The world does not stop at 8 p.m. Is Kamala Harris going to have to clock in as night president?”

Despite the jokes, Colbert remained clear: “It’s a shame because Joe Biden is a great president,” he said. Yet, the comedian also told the audience he wasn’t sure what should come next. “I don’t know what’s the right thing to do here,” he said. “And I think that this is actually a battle of two virtues. One of them is perseverance. Biden is famous for that…[the other] is self-sacrifice. And self-sacrifice takes a particular kind of courage, and that is a courage I believe Joe Biden is capable of. I believe he’s a good enough man. He is a good enough president to put the needs of the country ahead of the needs of his ego, and however painful that might be, it is possible.”

Over on Late Night, Meyers opened his “A Closer Look” monologue with joking naïveté regarding the political landscape, telling the crowd, “I just got back from a rejuvenating two-week vacation. I completely unplugged from the news. I’m feeling refreshed and energized and ready to dive back in. What did I miss?”

He went on to take jabs at Biden’s debate performance, while still emphasizing Trump’s spreading of misinformation.

“A wildly dangerous criminal and pathological liar is leading a radical movement to dismantle American democracy, and he’s within striking distance of the presidency,” he said. “The stakes of this election could not be any higher, which is why it would be nice to have a Democratic candidate who could competently articulate those stakes to the American people, instead of whatever the hell this was.”

Colbert Meyers also addressed Biden’s post-debate interview with ABC News’ George Stephanopoulos, when the president said, “If Trump wins in November, I’ll feel as long as I gave it my all and did the job I know I could do, that’s what it’s all about.”

“No!” Meyers said in response. “That’s not what this is about. Giving it your all is what salsa lessons at a retirement home is all about. This isn’t about how you feel. This is about how voters feel.”

Colbert had a similar response. “Actually, I don’t think that’s what this is about. I think that’s what The Karate Kid was about. This is about democracy and nuclear war, and you know — that stuff.”

On the Tonight Show, Fallon also addressed the debate’s fallout on Monday, comparing the president’s performance to a firework “that doesn’t ignite, or the one where the bottle tips over and blows up your house.”

He added that Democrats’ plan to remove Biden from the race will eventually become to “tie a bunch of balloons to the White House and hope he floats away like that old guy from Up.”