Even with less than a month left before this election cycle is over and Lady Liberty can go home and take off her bra with a blissful sigh of relief, the wait until November 8 (not 28, no matter what Trump says) still seems interminable. By the time the polls have closed, we may be twitching and frantically picking at our skin from stress, kind of like Ashley Judd in that movie Bug. And watching the results come rolling in isn’t likely to help. But luckily for our nation’s collective fingernails, Stephen Colbert and Chris Gethard are here to make our election-night experiences at least a little more pleasant.
Fulfilling vague promises he made a couple of months back, Colbert has now announced that he will be doing a live election-night special on Showtime, beginning November 8 at 11 p.m. ET/ 8 p.m. PT. Called Stephen Colbert’s Live Election Night Democracy’s Series Finale: Who’s Going To Clean Up This Shit?, the special will, according to a press release, allow Colbert to hold forth on this election without having to bleep out swear words, like he usually does on CBS. He can even get naked if he wants. Why not? It’s premium cable! Colbert will react in real time to each state’s election results as they come in, accompanied by some yet-to-be-announced surprise guests who ”are prepared to give a complete electoral breakdown—and possibly a complete emotional breakdown as well,” according to a press release.
And for those of us who don’t have cable, but live in the New York City metropolitan era, Chris Gethard will be returning to his public-access roots by hosting a live 12-hour election special on Manhattan Neighborhood Network, which hosted Gethartd’s eponymous show before it moved into the basic-cable big leagues on Fusion. “In 2012, I hosted a twelve hour election broadcast on MNN and started to lose my mind around hour three,” Gethard says. “I assume this year will be ten times worse, since I’m generally older, less enthusiastic about life, and more exhausted on a daily basis!” That special will air from noon until midnight on November 8.
[Note: Fusion, like The A.V. Club, is owned by Univision Communications.]