Stephen Colbert’s final pre-Election Day monologue on a special live episode of the Late Show was interrupted Monday night, first by a young girl crying about how she was too scared to vote, and then moments later by his old friend Jon Stewart.
“There’s nothing in the law that says the people have to vote. Let the child do what she wants, don’t stuff voting down her throat!” Stewart sang, before Colbert stopped him and reminded him what’s at stake in this election.
As he did when he visited Colbert’s Late Show earlier this year during the Republican National Convention, Stewart played dumb, forcing the host to inform him that Donald Trump is on the ballot. “What? Are you kidding me?!” Stewart said, doing a spit-take all over Colbert’s face. “That son of a—are you serious? That angry tax- and draft-dodging little orange groundhog is running for president?”
When the little girl told them she couldn’t decide who was “worse,” Trump or Hillary Clinton, they were quick to tell her, “He’s worse! Much worse!” At this point, it was clear that Colbert and Stewart were not just telling people to vote, but who they should vote for.
Soon, it was time for the next second big surprise guest: Hamilton’s Javier Muñoz, who rapped about “not throwin’ away your shot” on Election Day because “history has its eyes on you.”
And finally, as Colbert and company delivered a closing anthem about fulfilling your civic duty, Stewart did some rapping of his own. “He acts real tough, but he’s a wussy,” he rhymed of Trump. “He’ll probably fill the court with Gary Busey. And then he’ll grab your mother’s… kitty cat. Meow.”
It wasn’t the impassioned rant against Trump and the GOP that Stewart delivered in July, nor was it the hilarious story he told this past week about his Twitter war with the Republican candidate. But it may have been the message Americans needed the night before they head to the polls.
