American comic and talk show host Jimmy Kimmel, who usually shows his audience the funny side of things, could not find his smile on the day Donald Trump was elected President of the US for a second time. The renowned TV host teared and choked up during his opening monologue of his nightly hour-long show ‘Jimmy Kimmel Live!’ on ABC.
Calling it “A terrible night, last night” Mr Kimmel, visibly disturbed and in despair over Donald Trump’s electoral win, said he tried a lot, but couldn’t see anything positive from the US election result.
“Let’s be honest, it was a terrible night last night. It was a terrible night for women, for children, for the hundreds of thousands of hardworking immigrants who make this country great,” he said, emotionally choking briefly, as the live audience applauded to help cheer him up.
(Video Courtesy: YouTube – Access Hollywood)
Mr Kimmel went on to say that “…terrible for healthcare, for our climate, for science, for journalism, for justice, for free speech… a terrible night for poor people, for the middle-class, for senior citizens, for social security…. for our allies in Ukraine,” choking up again, but still continuing “For NATO, for the truth… terrible night for democracy, and for decency, and for everyone who voted against him… but guess what, it was a bad night for anyone who voted for him too – you just don’t realise it yet…” as the audience applauded him again.
Standing in front of a backdrop that showed a usual American cityscape in total darkness, Mr Kimmel finally found his humour amid the gloom when he said “…and most of all, it was an absolute disaster of a night for Melania,” as the audience burst into a fit of laughter.
He then gathered steam to roast President-elect Trump from his stage, before ending his monologue with “the only positive thing I could find”.
“Maybe in the long run we, the people will realise that maybe this is what we needed for us all to wake up. Maybe the people who care so much about him need to find out how little he cares about them…maybe the only positive from this is that he will not be able to run for President again in 2029.”
Meanwhile, another renowned talk show host and comedian, Stephen Colbert, who hosts the Late Show on CBS, also spoke about Trump’s victory. He addressed the remark most journalists face that Donald Trump is good for more news or comic material, with a witty comeback.
(Photo Credit: CBS – The Late Show With Stephen Colbert)
“As a late night host, people often say to me ‘C’mon…part of you would want Trump to win, because he gives you so much material to work with’…. well, no,” he said, adding that “Noone tells the guy who cleans the bathroom, ‘Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea coz there is so much material for you to work with’,” as the audience laughed and sniggered.
He left the audience in splits when he concluded his monologue by saying, “The first time Donald Trump was elected, he started off as a joke and ended up as a tragedy…. this time he is starting off as a tragedy; who knows how he’ll end up… maybe a limerick? ‘There once was a man who was orange… damn it!”
While the laughter still echoed in sthe studio, Mr Colbert summed it all up by saying, “Who knows what the next four years are going to be like…”