Stephen Colbert on inconclusive election night: ‘It's actually a good thing we don't know who won yet’

Stephen Colbert hosted a 2020 election night special on Showtime, and the "Late Show" host may have surprised some viewers when he revealed that he was OK with not having conclusive results from the election by the end of the night.

“I understand your stress,” said Colbert. “But now I’m gonna say something a little controversial, so don’t get mad at me. It's actually a good thing we don't know who won yet.”

Colbert has interviewed both Joe Biden and President Trump, and regardless of who the viewers voted for, Colbert insists that every vote needs to be counted.

“The truth is, the reason it's taking so long to declare a winner is because we've had such a massive voter turnout,” said Colbert. “Going into tonight, many were predicting the highest rate of voter turnout since 1908. The point is, this year, millions of you braved the pandemic, an army of poll watchers, even the post office just to make sure you got to vote. And each one of those ballots deserves to be counted.”

Video Transcript

STEPHEN COLBERT: I understand your stress, I do. But now I'm going to say something a little controversial, so don't get mad at me.

It's actually a good thing we don't know who won yet.

[BOOING]

Stop that. You don't exist. Stop it.

- "The Late Show"s Stephen Colbert hosted a 2020 election night special on Showtime, Tuesday. And while there is a lot of uncertainty surrounding when the final results will come in, he says it's actually a good thing.

STEPHEN COLBERT: The truth is, the reason it's taking so long to declare a winner is because we've had such a massive voter turnout. Going in tonight, many were predicting the highest rate of voter turnout since 1908.

- Colbert has interviewed both Joe Biden and Donald Trump. And regardless of who the viewers voted for, Colbert insists that every vote be counted.

STEPHEN COLBERT: The point is, this year millions of you braved the pandemic, an army of poll watchers, even the post office just to make sure you got to vote. And each and every one of those ballots deserves to be counted whether they are votes for Joe Biden, votes for Donald Trump, or write-in votes for Boobs, boobs, boobs, Post Malone Rules!

- So whether people voted for Donald Trump, Joe Biden, or Post Malone, Colbert thinks we owe it to democracy and ourselves to count every vote.

STEPHEN COLBERT: We've been able to wait for this moment since November of 2016, and many of you waited in line for hours to make your voices heard. So I know we've all got what it takes to wait just a little bit longer.