Late-Night Shows to Skip Live Election Broadcasts for First Time in 24 Years

Late-night shows reportedly plan to skip their live election night broadcasts for the first time in 24 years.

ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel Live! will pre-record its Tuesday episode, which will only feature early reactions to results coming in from the East Coast — but will not air live on the West Coast with the final outcomes, according to a report by TheWrap.

Comedy Central’s The Daily Show, meanwhile, is expected to tape its Tuesday episode before polls close in New York. As for NBC’s The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers, both shows will reportedly not air on Tuesday.

Because CBS’ The Late Show was canceled earlier this year, no episodes will air on Tuesday — or ever again. When the show was still on the air, however, Stephen Colbert used to go live with midterm coverage.

Late-night shows falling silent on election night is a change up from 24 years ago, when Jon Stewart went live on The Daily Show with midterm election night coverage in 2002.

Others quickly follow suit, adjusting their taping schedules so they could go live with their audiences as election results came in.

In the last midterm elections in 2022, only Kimmel and Colbert went live on their shows for election night.

In November 2018, during President Donald Trump’s first term, Trevor Noah’s The Daily Show, along with Colbert, Kimmel, and Meyers, all covered the midterm elections.

The decision to move away from late-night election coverage arrives amid a particularly high-stakes election cycle.

Republicans currently control both the House of Representatives and the U.S. Senate, but this midterm cycle could shift control of either or both as President Trump heads into the second half of his second presidential term.

Alana Mastrangelo-Wrask is a reporter for Breitbart News. You can follow her on Facebook and X at @ARmastrangelo, and on Instagram.