The Daily Show does its best to ease Election Night anxiety
Sadly, the polls were correct, and the election is too close to call, making for a tricky, morose Daily Show.
Photo courtesy of Comedy Central
As is tradition, The Daily Show went live on the worst night of the American holiday calendar: Election Day. “Indecision Night In America: Nothing We Can Do About It Now” attempted to offer brief relief from the New York Times’ scabbing needle. But more often than not, the show looked for good election results to point out as America once again put its faith in swing states. Usually, when writing these, we typically focus on Jon Stewart’s monologue, a source of clarity and catharsis. Not so this evening. Instead, we got numerous sketches about how stressful and unpleasant this election has been and a stark look at a future run by insurrectionists obsessed with a man of low character, to say the least. But hey, it beats looking at the fucking needle.
Forgoing the opening monologue because the election is still up in the air, Stewart ceded the introductory segment to the news team, who, from inside the studio, were all over the country tonight. Wearing a garbage bag and an ear bandage, Tory Iwata was in Florida, Grace Kuhlenschmidt was in Washington, D.C., at Kamala HQ, and Jordan Klepper was in Pennsylvania, taking the first cheesesteak out of town. Michael Kosta did his best Steve Kornacki at The Daily Show Election Center. With his sleeves rolled up, rolling ever higher with each appearance, Kosta tracked voter fraud through the Giulian-o-Meter, measuring fraud by hair dye leaking from America’s Mayor’s head. Meanwhile, Ronny Chieng risked his life by babysitting some feral swing voters, and Desi Lydic offered a brief analysis of the national mood: “Fuck all y’all.” These quick-hit news team sketches were the flavor of the night, but without any analysis, it was hard to get the crowd, in the studio and at home, to buy into them. It’s a tense evening, making comedy very difficult.
Fate spared us an interview with Jon Fetterman, a strange pick for tonight’s show, considering how cruel he’s been about Israel’s war on Gaza and those who support Palestinian liberation. As luck would have it, he canceled about 30 seconds before he was supposed to be on, and so, Stewart moved up Arizona Governor Katie Hobbs from Phoenix, who said it would be a long night to a couple of days about the results. We love hearing that, don’t we, folks? Aside from longlines caused, she said, by ballot referendums that the Governor had already vetoed but were put on the ballot by “literal insurrectionists” in the legislature, Arizona didn’t have any trouble voting. But there will be more results out of Arizona late tonight, and she warned Arizona, like other states, would be close.
“I’m sorry Senator Fetterman couldn’t be here,” said Hobbs cheerfully. “I’m happy to fill his slot. Pennsylvania is going to be close, too.”
Lt. Governor Garlin Gilchrist II of Michigan was the night’s highlight, confidently asserting, “We are going to win.” But Jon had the question of the night: “How is this so close?”
“Take a drink of water,” Lt. Governor Gilchrist said, offering a fair suggestion. This is still very early. Gilchrist’s confidence, he says, comes from the coalition he’s built throughout Michigan and the Get Out The Vote campaign that reached more than 3 million people. Gilchrist’s appearance was the night’s all-star, bringing much-needed optimism and confidence as the results sputtered as things rolled on.
But The Daily Show won’t have the answer. We’ll have to see this one out, one sleepless night at a time. It’s best to do the impossible: Log off. In the words of the show’s title, “Nothing we can do about it now,” and like in 2020, we won’t have an answer for a few days. Ultimately, Stewart had one message for pollsters: “Blow me. You don’t know shit about shit.” Again, fair. However, he gave some perspective, showing how wrong the pundits were about the lessons from the 2008, 2012, 2016, and 2020 elections.
“My point is this: Fuck!” he screamed. “But this is not the end; we have to regroup and continue to fight, and we have to work day in and day out for a better world because it’s possible. It’s possible.” That’s as good a Moment of Zen as any.”