Democrats made gains and Trump took the hit after the 2026 midterms, giving late-night hosts plenty of material. Jimmy Kimmel called the results a blue tsunami and labeled Trump a lame duck. Fallon, Stewart, and Meyers also joined the roast, using the election results to sharpen their latest comedy routines.
Democrats made gains, Trump took the hit, and late-night television got a week of material. Kimmel was first out of the gate
The big late-night shows skipped live election-night coverage this year, a format they once treated as an event. Jimmy Kimmel's was the exception. His team worked the results into the programme as they came in, and by the following morning his monologue was the one getting passed around.
Kimmel called the Democratic wins a "blue tsunami". Trump, he said, was now a "lame duck". He leaned on references to popular television shows to sharpen the jokes, and entertainment outlets picked them up quickly.
Fallon, Stewart and Meyers join the pile-on
On The Tonight Show, he had already joked about Trump's campaign activities, his public statements and his election promises. His Trump impression is a long-running part of the act, and the midterms gave it a fresh outing.
Jon Stewart's Daily Show routinely picks apart Trump's decisions and remarks, so an election his side lost suits him. Seth Meyers does the same job in his A Closer Look segments on Late Night, where a single political controversy gets stretched into a full, detailed routine.
Stephen Colbert, for years the most dependable political voice in late night, is absent from the list. His programme ended earlier in 2026, and the midterms arrived without him.
With Democrats making significant gains, Trump has another political fight ahead. Kimmel, Fallon, Stewart and Meyers have plenty to work with