Thus far, it has been a gloomy 2025 for the late night comedy shows as they have attacked Democrats from the left for not doing anything to stop Republicans, but on Wednesday, a trio of them claimed to have reason for optimism as they reacted to Sen. Cory Booker’s 25-hour talk. Some suggested he get an award, while others claimed he spoke for all of America, while others tried their hand at media criticism, arguing the media hasn't praised Booker enough.
CBS’s Stephen Colbert teed up a clip on The Late Show of the final moments of Booker’s speech where he compared himself to the Civil Rights Movement, “There were many great moments, but Booker saved, I think, the best for last.”
After the clip and audience cheers, Colbert declared he was such a fan that he invited Booker on the show, “Yes, sir. That was beautiful. Give that man an award, eventually. First give him a toilet and a bed and a cauliflower steak or whatever he calls food. And I’m happy to say Cory Booker will be my guest on Monday right over there to talk about what is going on in the Senate, what is going on in America, and what can be done.”
Over at NBC and Late Night, host Seth Meyers welcomed MSNBC’s Rachel Maddow and recalled, “Cory Booker, last night, did speak for 25 hours and then went straight on your show before declaring, “I did think, you know, as for what it accomplishes, I don’t know, but it did, at least, say, I think, to, you know, his voters ‘Look, I do still have some energy for this fight.’”
Maddow agreed, “Oh yeah, and I think that that initial, like, lethargy and kind of stunned reaction from the Democrats is over now, and I think it’s also interesting when Senator Booker said, sort of explained, he had time to talk, when he explained why he was doing it, he said, ‘Listen, my constituents put me up to it, my constituents are demanding me, are challenging me to do more,’ and we’re seeing that targeted at Democratic politicians all over the country.”
She further claimed, “Senator Booker said his constituents told him, ‘Take risks, do something you don’t think you can do, you need to show people that this not normal times and it is worth doing everything we can’ and he did.”
After cheers from the audience, Maddow tried to claim that Late Night’s audience and TikTok are representative of the whole country, “I think that kind of reaction and the way you guys saw that, I think the whole country kind of saw that, every single time I tuned in on TikTok or CSPAN or YouTube or anything there were tens if not hundreds of thousands of people watching, it’s like the whole country stood up and gave him a standing ovation.”
Back on Comedy Central, The Daily Show’s host of the week, Michael Kosta, attacked the media for insufficiently gushing over Booker’s speech, “And the amazing thing is that Booker didn’t just get out there and read from Wikipedia, he stayed focused on condemning the Trump Administration’s assault on working people and the rule of law, so you can imagine the media had a lot of questions for him about these serious issues.”
Following a montage of reporters discussing how Booker was not allowed to take a bathroom break, Kosta returned, ‘“Senator, senator, senator, senator: pee-pee. Senator, a follow up: poo-poo.’ This is why our country is the shape that it’s in. The media won’t talk about the substance of this speech, they’d rather talk about how he held it in for so long. No one cares about that, but just out of curiosity, how did you do it?”
The truth is nobody cares about Booker’s speech either. To return to Maddow’s point, tens of thousands of video views is not exactly history-altering.
Here are transcripts for the April 2-taped shows:
CBS The Late Show with Stephen Colbert
4/2/2025
11:46 PM ET
STEPHEN COLBERT: There were many great moments, but Booker saved, I think, the best for last.
CORY BOOKER: The power of the people is greater than the people in power. It is time to heed the words of the man I began this whole thing with, John Lewis, I beg folks to take his example of his early days where he made himself determined to show his love for his country at a time the country didn’t love him, to love this country so much, to be such a patriot that he endured beatings savagely on the Edmund Pettus Bridge, at lunch counters, on freedom rides. He said he had to do something. [Jump Cut] This is a moral moment. It’s not left or right, it’s right or wrong. It’s getting good trouble. My friend, madam president, I yield the floor.
COLBERT: Yes, sir. That was beautiful. Give that man an award, eventually. First give him a toilet and a bed and a cauliflower steak or whatever he calls food. And I’m happy to say Cory Booker will be my guest on Monday right over there to talk about what is going on in the Senate, what is going on in America, and what can be done.
***
NBC Late Night with Seth Meyers
4/3/2025
SETH MEYERS: Cory Booker, last night, did speak for 25 hours and then went straight on your show.
RACHEL MADDOW: Yes. Yeah.
MEYERS: I did think, you know, as for what it accomplishes, I don’t know, but it did, at least, say, I think, to, you know, his voters “Look, I do still have some energy for this fight.”
MADDOW: Oh yeah, and I think that that initial, like, lethargy and kind of stunned reaction from the Democrats is over now, and I think it’s also interesting when Senator Booker said, sort of explained, he had time to talk, when he explained why he was doing it, he said, “Listen, my constituents put me up to it, my constituents are demanding me, are challenging me to do more,” and we’re seeing that targeted at Democratic politicians all over the country. The Republicans are too afraid to hold town halls, Democrats are holding them everywhere, but every time they do, they get screamed at by their constituents saying “Do more. Do more. This isn’t a normal time. Stand up more strongly, be more radical in your opposition to this guy, do more to stop him from what he’s doing” and Senator Booker said his constituents told him, “Take risks, do something you don’t think you can do, you need to show people that this not normal times and it is worth doing everything we can” and he did and I think that kind of reaction and the way you guys saw that, I think the whole country kind of saw that, every single time I tuned in on TikTok or CSPAN or YouTube or anything there were tens if not hundreds of thousands of people watching, it’s like the whole country stood up and gave him a standing ovation.
***
Comedy Central The Daily Show
4/3/2025
11:03 PM ET
MICHAEL KOSTA: And the amazing thing is that Booker didn’t just get out there and read from Wikipedia, he stayed focused on condemning the Trump Administration’s assault on working people and the rule of law, so you can imagine the media had a lot of questions for him about these serious issues.
…
“Senator, senator, senator, senator: pee-pee. Senator, a follow up: poo-poo.” This is why our country is the shape that it’s in. The media won’t talk about the substance of this speech, they’d rather talk about how he held it in for so long. No one cares about that, but just out of curiosity, how did you do it?
