Culture

A Timeline of the Best Late-Night Bits of the 2016 Election

From Samantha Bee and Seth Meyers to John Oliver and Kate McKinnon, here are the best political comedy moments from this election year.

Politics is always fertile ground for late-night comedy shows, but presidential election years are the true gold mines. Primaries, conventions, debates, and an endless parade of scandals (whether valid or trumped up) give hosts and writing staffs an embarrassment of riches to work with: Every headline is a new monologue joke, every gaffe a potential Saturday Night Live sketch. And this year, a jaw-dropping circus fire of an election has serendipitously happened in the same year that a crop of new shows and hosts have emerged---shows and hosts who have gladly put the proceedings in their crosshairs. There have been so many savage acts of satire during the last few months, in fact, that you might have missed some. If so, do enjoy a rough timeline of the biggest comedy moments from a campaign year that, as Jon Oliver pointed out, has managed to continually redefine the very concept of "rock bottom."

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