Late night takes on the first day of impeachment hearings

“It’s finally here.”

That’s how CBS’ Stephen Colbert kicked off “The Late Show” on Wednesday night before delving into the biggest story of the day: the first public impeachment hearing of President Trump.

“It’s what we’ve been praying for since the beginning of the Trump presidency: the end of the Trump presidency,” Colbert said during his opening monologue.

Colbert then told his audience, “today’s live testimony was as dramatic as it was historic.”

“It was the biggest ratings hit for C-SPAN 3 since ‘Drunk History starring Brett Kavanaugh,'” Colbert joked.

Colbert explained that the star witness was top US diplomat to Ukraine Bill Taylor, who the host compared to a “grandpa telling you (whippersnappers) to knock off the horseplay.”

The testimony from Taylor provided new details about President Trump’s personal involvement in the push for Ukraine to open investigations into his political rivals. Colbert said that Taylor’s testimony on Wednesday offered information that was “like if they had a picture of Nixon breaking into the Watergate.”

Colbert wasn’t the only late-night host who had something to say about the impeachment hearings. ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel was also happy to talk about the hearings, but he was celebrating today for a different reason.

“Thank you for joining us on one of the most historic and important dates in the history of the United States, my birthday,” Kimmel, who turned 52 on Wednesday, said to his audience.

Kimmel said that his birthday is not a big thing for him, but he “got exactly what I wanted this year” thanks to the hearings.

“This is a stressful day for the President,” Kimmel said. “The Popeyes near the White House, they had to waive their two-chicken-sandwiches-per-person limit today for him.”

As for Seth Meyers, the NBC “Late Night” host spent nearly 13 minutes talking about the hearings in his segment “A Closer Look.”

“Today was a historic day. This was only the fourth time in American history that Congress has launched public impeachment proceedings against a sitting president, and that is not a club you want to be in,” Meyers said. “There are the two president who actually got impeached and the third, Richard Nixon, who was so desperate to avoid it, he quit first.”

Meyers then showed the famous photo of Nixon departing on the presidential helicopter.

“If that had been Trump, the Secret Service would have to tie him to helicopter by his leg and air lift him out,” he said.