Stephen Colbert, The Daily Show bid farewell to Jeb Bush
By Hector Cruz
Stephen Colbert and The Daily Show‘s Trevor Noah pay tribute to Jeb Bush after he drops out of the presidential race
Late-night hosts Stephen Colbert and Trevor Noah reacted to the news that Former Florida Gov. Jeb Bush has decided to end his campaign for president following a poor showing in South Carolina during their respective shows on Monday night.
Colbert paid tribute to the self-described “joyful tortoise” during The Late Show‘s popular Hunger Games-inspired “Hungry for Power Games” segment where the comedian dresses up as Stanley Tucci’s purple wigged character Caesar Flickerman from the successful film franchise.
Colbert first noted that this would likely be the last time he could mock Bush’s exclamation-marked logo, before showing part of the politician’s farewell speech where he congratulated his competitors on “remaining on the island.”
This encouraged the host to describe Bush’s presidential campaign with his own series of reality show puns. “This election is like Survivor. But sadly Jeb did not run an Amazing Race. He just didn’t have that X Factor and nothing short of an Extreme Makeover could make voters forget his Big Brother.”
Colbert then pointed out that Bush’s campaign failed to take off despite amassing $150 million in donations, or roughly the same budget as Inception, “only the ending of Jeb’s campaign makes sense.”
He then promised that he will always respect Bush because he never lost his dignity even as his campaign collapsed around him, which he contradicted by showing the now-infamous clip of the Republican requesting that a group of supporters “please clap” following a statement on foreign policy.
“If only he had said, ‘Please vote for me,'” Colbert joked.
Using the “joyful tortoise” moniker as inspiration, Colbert ended the bit by flushing a “dead” toy tortoise down a small toilet to represent Bush’s failed campaign, and then bid farewell to the fallen in typically dramatic fashion before ending with the following statement: “Farewell, gentle Jeb. Your dynasty has been forever put to rest. Now, the most powerful Bush is a tie between your cousin Billy and that baked beans dog. Please clap!”
Noah also gave his take on Bush’s announcement that he was dropping out of the GOP race by first showing the governor announcing to his supporters he was suspending his campaign, which ended with a sad cough.
“His campaign died as it lived: standing in awkward silence, trying not to cry,” Noah quipped.
The host then showed clips of various pundits and politicians wrongly predicting that Bush would be a shoo-in for the nomination.
“The last time someone got a prediction that wrong was when they said that by 2016 we’d all be riding hoverboards. And yet all we have are those rolling combustible douche chariots,” he exclaimed. “Those are not hovering! They roll on the ground!”
Noah noted that Bush’s campaign had spent $130 million, including $10 million on consultants, who he joked had taught him to pump up a crowd like in the aforementioned “please clap” clip, which prompted the host to lament, “Poor Jeb, he’s so unpopular he couldn’t even get the clap.”
The comedian then mocked the closing remarks of Bush’s speech where he implied that he was going to go home and sleep with his wife. “Did Jeb think he wasn’t allowed to have sex with his wife during the campaign?” Noah asked. “Who told him he wasn’t allowed to have sex? That sounds like a prank your brother would play.” An image of George W. Bush was then displayed in the background.
Watch the entire Daily Show clip below to see their alleged footage of Bush’s supporters watching him as he “terminated” his campaign:
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah
Get More: The Daily Show Full Episodes,The Daily Show on Facebook,The Daily Show Video Archive
Next: Stephen Colbert offers Hillary Clinton a wish list on Late Show
The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs weeknights at 11:35 p.m. on CBS, while The Daily Show with Trevor Noah is shown Monday-Thursday at 11 p.m. on Comedy Central.