Jon Stewart, unable to keep himself away from television the night before the election, came to Stephen Colbert’s The Late Show for a bizarre musical about the importance of voting. Stewart’s role was initially, surprisingly, counterintuitive: He emerged in a a top hat and tails brandishing one of his infamously bad accents to tell the “ragamuffin” who is “too scared to vote” that it doesn’t matter. Then he learned that Donald Trump is running, did more spit takes than were necessary, and changed his stance.
The back and forth continued until Javier Muñoz—Broadway’s reigning Alexander Hamilton—came out to shut the argument down. Everyone then agreed that voting is important and went into a grand finale, during which Stewart dropped some anti-Trump lyrics: “You know he acts real tough, but he’s a wussy / He’d probably fill the court with Gary Busey / And then he’ll grab your mother’s—” Colbert interrupted him before he uttered “pussy” and instead went for “kitty cat meow.” It all amounted to a surreal bit, but the message was simple: Go and vote, goddamnit.