Late Night USA Hangover mood with Kimmel, Colbert and Meyers

The traditionally left-wing late-night shows are putting on a good face: they are trying to take Donald's election victory in their stride. If that doesn't work, defiance, humor - or alcohol - can help.

For the American late-night shows, the matter was clear: hosts such as John Oliver or Jimmy Kimmel sometimes addressed Republicans directly with special videos to urge them to vote for Kamala Harris.

The problem is that no one who is a Trump supporter watches these shows, which only entertain a left-liberal audience. So why should they, when shows like "The Late Show with Stephen Colbert" invite Kamala Harris - and her unavailable running mate Tim Walz is also a guest on Colbert, "Jimmy Kimmel Live" and the "Daily Show", but no one from Trump's camp?

It's obvious that the late-night hosts are now in a state of cat and mouse after the 45th president becomes the 47th. This is how they are dealing with the election result, which has come as a shock to them.

"The Daily Show": Ladies First

"I slept for two hours last night and I feel like S*******," Desi Lydic admits right at the beginning of "The Daily Show" about the "nightmare." "It's official: America has made its first convicted felon president - even before it elected its first woman president."

The 43-year-old can't believe it: "We had two qualified, accomplished women [in Hillary Clinton and Kamala Harris] who were nominated for president: Both times they lost to the worst man in the entire country."

Every other man is hoisted into office first before a woman makes it, the presenter teases: "The first president of the [anti-technology faith group] Amish, the first Mark Wahlberg president," Lydic pauses for effect, "there's no rule that says a dog can't be president - provided it's a male dog."

"I'm honestly very, very hungover"

America had returned to her "scumbag ex": who voted for him? "Buckle up, it's a long list," Lydic says. The clip from minute 3:20 gives the answers: White voters, men and first-time voters, young men, older voters, under-30s, black men, Latinos, suburban women, Arab Americans and white men are mentioned.

"So all of America," says Lydic. "The only ones you didn't list are black women and people in comas." The question remains as to who is responsible for Harris' defeat - see clip from minute 4:11: The Democrats are too left-wing, it says here. And there, that the Democrats should not have turned to Republicans like Liz Cheney.

Harris did not stand behind Israel, says one. And the other misses support for the Palestinians. She had not been able to distance herself from Joe Biden. But she shouldn't have sidelined him like that either. "I don't really care why she lost," Lydic despairs. "I care why he won."

It would take a message of hope. "But I'm too depressed and frankly very, very hungover."

"The Late Show with Stephen Colbert": "F***"

"Well: f***," Stephen Colbert begins his monologue on "The Late Show." "It happened. Again." The shock is great, but there's a good side to it: "At least we'll have a peaceful transfer of power."

Late Night USA - Understanding America

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50 states, 330 million people and even more opinions: How are you supposed to "understand America"? If you want to keep an overview without running aground, you need a beacon. The late-night stars offer one of the best navigational aids: They are the perfect pilots, relentlessly naming the shoals of the country and its people, and serve our author Philipp Dahm as a comic compass for the state of the American soul.

He is often told that he should be happy because he is now getting four more years of good material, says the 60-year-old. "No, nobody tells the guy who cleans the toilet: Wow, you must love it when someone has explosive diarrhea - there's so much material you can work with."

The majority decided democratically, and they decided they didn't care that much about democracy, says Colbert. Looking back to 2016 is a ray of hope: "The authoritarian rule that the Democrats and the press predicted never materialized," writes the Wall Street Journal."Mr. Trump was too undisciplined and his attention span too short."

"The next four years will be fascinating"

"He's not focused enough to be a fascist," Colbert says with relief. "They may have promised to put immigrants in camps, but they don't have the focus."

One reason for the Democrats' defeat could be that voters didn't know who was running, according to Colbert: " Fortune" knows that many people googled on election day to see if Biden was still in the race ."You could also Google," the host gets upset: "'Why no more Bill Cosby?' 'Tupac [Shakur] new music when?"

Colbert ends, "The next four years are going to be fascinating, and I used the term 'fascinating' here in the same way that [Star Trek character] Mister Spock does when the Enterprise gets sucked into a black hole."

"Jimmy Kimmel Live": A "terrible night"

"This was the worst Taco Tuesday of my entire life," the namesake of "Jimmy Kimmel Live" opens his show monologue. "We had a choice between a female prosecutor and a criminal, and we chose the criminal to be president of the United States."

The 56-year-old blasphemes about the fact that the election was suddenly no longer postponed, even though Trump has talked about it so extensively. "Last time, the Democrats cheated. This time, I think we've decided against it."

It wasn't just the presenter who was upset by the election result. His children also suffered. "Whenever something bad happens, our children are allowed to swear for 30 seconds. And all the words they use are swear words." Daughter Jane told his wife the same thing at breakfast.

"They just don't know it yet"

The moment the daughter started, his seven-year-old came down the stairs and asked what was going on. When the mother told Billy that Trump had won, he just shouted "F***". "The election was almost worth it," Kimmel says of the scene.

Harris called Trump and conceded defeat, according to Kimmel: "And then she explained what 'conceding defeat' means." The vote was calm - apart from the bomb threats in districts in Arizona, Georgia and Michigan, most of which vote Democratic.

"They seem to be coming from Russia," says Kimmel. "You can tell the Russians are running out of ideas to disrupt our elections when they use the same tricks that kids used to skip gym class in the '80s." His conclusion: "It was a terrible night." Even for those who voted for Trump. "They just don't know it yet."

"Late Night with Seth Meyers": Surprise in the fireplace

"I want to start today with something I want you to know: I voted for Kamala Harris," starts "Late Night with Seth Meyers". "I know Meyers keeps things to himself. Nobody knows where Meyers stands. And there's something else you need to know: Whenever I talk about myself in the third person, it's a clear sign that something in Meyers' brain broke a little bit last night."

He drank a few "Kamalakazi" shots because he couldn't sleep. "It's like Christmas Eve when you know you're going to wake up on Christmas Day and Santa has either brought presents or pooped fat in your fireplace."

He watched the election night in the knowledge that he would have to talk about it on his show soon afterwards. But he doesn't want to let the joy be taken away from him - even if the topic isn't a happy one. It is a privilege to live in America "even on a morning like this". His team's mission is to continue to make people laugh.