Late-night hosts discuss waiting for election results: ‘Like waking up with a hangover and finding out you’re still at the bar’

“Come on, it’s 2020. Did you really think last night would end up with a neat little bow?,” Jimmy Fallon asked

Jimmy Fallon compared the US election to “waking up with a hangover and finding out you’re still at the bar” as America waits to find out who will be the next president.

Late-night hosts returned to the air on Wednesday (4 November) with the country still uncertain who won the election with some US states still yet to declare their votes.

“Come on, it’s 2020. Did you really think last night would end up with a neat little bow?,” Fallon asked. 

With most votes in Pennsylvania not expected to be tallied until Friday (6 November), Fallon joked on The Tonight Show that he wasn’t sure that patience was “one of America’s strengths”.

“If a TikTok video isn’t fun in the first three seconds, we’re like, ‘next’,” he said. “We need to be patient in a country that invented a Domino's tracker so we know exactly when our pizza will arrive.”

On Jimmy Kimmel Live!, presenter Kimmel described the race to see who would get the required electoral college votes as being “closer than Donald and Ivanka at a father-daughter dance”.

“It isn’t official yet – but all signs are pointing to a Joe Biden win. Everyone seems to know it – everyone except for Donald Trump,” the host said.

“If they hadn’t cancelled the Olympics this year, he would have won that too. Basically, his message last night in a nutshell was, ‘We won a completely fraudulent election’.”

Also referencing Trump’s false claim that he had won the election, The Late Show’s Stephen Colbert compared the move to a “power grab by a terrified strongman in the dead of night”.

“If there’s anything that 2am is known for, it’s desperate moves by sad little men who are afraid to go home like a loser,” Colbert added.

On The Daily Show, Trevor Noah called Trump’s request to stop counting votes in states where he was ahead “insane”.

“This is a textbook authoritarian move, which is impressive coming from a guy who has never read a textbook,” he commented.

Follow the latest US election news here and see which celebrities support Biden or Trump here.