Stephen Colbert breaks down the first Democratic debate

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert was live after the Democratic debate and gave an instant reaction to the event.

The presidential election hit a major marker Wednesday night on the road to November 2020. The first of a two part debate among the Democratic candidates was held in Miami, Florida. Stephen Colbert did his best to break it all down in typical Late Show fashion.

It was another live show for Stephen Colbert and his writers on Wednesday. That means they were glued to the television watching the debate, editing clips and coming up with jokes on the fly. It is already impressive that late night shows are written, produced, and performed five nights a week. It’s even more impressive knowing that the jokes were thought up right before the cameras went live.

The debate gave Colbert a chance to turn his sharp wit on to a politician other than President Donald Trump. The president himself was watching the debate and offered his own live commentary.

Popular candidates like Elizabeth Warren, Beto O’Rourke, and Cory Booker participated in the first debate. Colbert had jokes ready for just about every Democrat and moderator who was in the building last night.

Beto O’Rourke, and other candidates, speaking in Spanish was one of the biggest stories from the debate outside of the actual exchange of the policy ideas. Social media especially had fun with the decision by O’Rourke to answer questions in two languages. Colbert was right there too, calling out O’Rourke’s unnecessary bilingual demonstration.

From there, Colbert continued to mock attempts by politicians to pander to people watching at home. It’s a common strategy in politics but it’s funny to see Colbert point it out in consecutive clips about McDonald’s employees and a folksy saying about “all foam and no beer.”

O’Rourke turned out to be something of a punching bag for the other Democrats and in turn for Colbert. It may have been a wake-up call for the former representative who was unsuccessful in unseating Ted Cruz from the senate.

But O’Rourke may have been saved by the technical difficulties that plagued the broadcast. It wasn’t a good look for NBC and derailed things at times. Colbert had his fun with it, showing how distracting it can be for everyone involved.

Hopefully the technical difficulties won’t be a problem on Thursday night for part two of the debate. Joe Biden, Bernie Sanders, and Pete Buttigieg highlight the group of 10 more candidates taking the stage. Once again, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert will be live immediately following the debate so be sure to watch.