In the days since the results of the midterm elections crashed down on Donald Trump and the Republican Party, a kind of theme song has played out across late-night television. And it sounded a lot like the intro to the Surfaris’ 1963 instrumental hit: “Ha, ha, ha: Wipeout!”
Has there been gloating? Yes, there’s been gloating.
From Seth Meyers: “When I was watching the results on Tuesday and saw the Republicans getting a nasty, little spanking on their hot muscular butts, yeah, I’ll admit I had a massive mandate.”
From Bill Maher: “I had to gloat…This is all about Donald Trump and we don’t like him anymore.”
From Jimmy Fallon: “Donald Trump couldn’t do it with the Reflecting Pool but last night he turned the whole country blue.”
From Jon Stewart: From Jon Stewart: “Still feeling that thing? What do you call it? Hope? Still on your phones gloat-scrolling?” He followed that with a compilation of Republicans and MAGA news anchors and podcasters calling the results a “spanking” and an “ass-kicking.”
And, of course, from Jimmy Kimmel, on election night: “I feel pretty good, I will say… the only ass on Trump’s mind tonight is the one that just got handed to him.”
Somewhere Stephen Colbert was gloating in private.
Is it too much to say that late-night television had a major part in the electoral takedown of the Republicans and Trump in the form of a historic turnover of House and Senate seats?
Yes, that’s probably too much. Voices of outrage at prices and war and corruption are the main things that got the job done.
But the unrelenting and unbridled attention all those things received in comedy monologues across the spectrum of late night—jokes that killed with live audiences, then rolled on, the best of them, to reach millions more on YouTube, social media, and in print recaps of “the best in late night”—may well have helped keep those issues and outrages front of mind.
Concentrated ridicule always has impact. But it is at its most powerful when the jesters are punching up—at the king, at the emperor, at the boss. And it only increases the power when the king gets his umbrage up and tries to put a stop to it.
Trump’s intemperate attempts to shut late-night up have only served to enhance its impact and its standing.
Especially in one case.
Jimmy Kimmel is a much bigger star today than he was before Donald Trump and his FCC chairman Brendan Carr tried to remove him from the air, following their Colbert blueprint.
They’re still trying to take down Kimmel, even as their efforts get more ham-fisted and hyperventilating. The White House decided to keep up the pressure the day after Election Day with another denunciation on official stationery. Kimmel read the newest message on the air, direct from what he called a “White House spokesboy.”
The tone of the message legitimized his disdain for the messenger:
“Jimmy Kimmel is a no-talent loser who has beclowned himself with tanking ratings by spewing disgusting lies to his dwindling audience.”
The screed was not only lame and ludicrous—Kimmel’s ratings are the best in late night, and his audience is growing—but it also provided a fat slowball for the comedian to swat into the upper deck.
“Today seems like a bad day for you to call me a loser.”
There is a knee-jerk quality to the “loser” meme about late-night television. Ratings overall have been in steady decline along with the rest of linear television. But both Kimmel and The Daily Show have bucked the trend, posting increases over the past two seasons.
And all the football-spiking going on over Trump’s midterm losses looks even better when viewing figures from some additional sources are included.
Kimmel’s election night monologue added 14 million views on YouTube. His monologue the next night added 11 million.
Fallon added 3 million to an election-based monologue; Meyers added almost 5 million; Stewart almost 9 million.
Of course they were going to gloat. Late night has provided arguably the most consistent base of criticism of Trump and Republican policies of any voices anywhere in the media.
What does that mean going forward? When the next Congress moves to investigate perceived wrongdoing by the administration, the opportunities for late night to elevate attention to those hearings will surely be many.
One particular Trump official, Carr at the FCC, figures to get special attention. He has already been put on notice by free-speech advocates, including Reporters Without Borders (RSF), that he will be held accountable if he keeps up his efforts to bully ABC about its station licenses to advance his crusade against Kimmel.
RSF has already called for Carr to be impeached. That’s never happened before to an FCC chairman.
If it does in the next Congress, a big reason will be: late-night television.
Get stories like this in your inbox: Sign up for LateNighter’s free daily newsletter.
