Kimmel, Colbert, and more react to Trump's State of the Union address - The Boston Globe

Late-night hosts agree: Less definitely would have been more in the case of Tuesday’s State of the Union address.

Critiquing President Trump’s meandering, 108-minute monologue — the longest-ever address of its kind — Jimmys Kimmel and Fallon and Stephen Colbert marveled at the sheer volume of words.

“Trump told us in advance that the speech was going to be long and, for once, he was telling the truth,” said Kimmel. “The speech went on so long, Kristi Noem’s dog shot itself.”

“Trump’s speech focused on his major accomplishments and when those eight seconds were up, he just riffed for an hour and a half,” said Fallon. “It was basically two hours of Trump telling us how great he is. I feel like we’ve been getting that State of the Union address every day since he took office.”

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The hosts weren’t big fans of the president’s message, either. Kimmel called Trump’s speech xenophobic and mean-spirited and lamented that the leader of the free world used the State of the Union to say “all foreigners are murderers.”

“He said zero illegal aliens have been allowed into the United States on his watch, but the door is always open to those who come in legally to be his next wife,” Kimmel said. “When you ramble mostly incoherently for two hours is that technically still a speech or does it at some point become a conniption fit?”

“He bragged about ending DEI, he bragged about kicking 2 million people off food stamps. It was like a Christmas message from the Grinch,” said Kimmel. “Here’s the real State of the Union: We have a nut job wannabe king who’s doing everything he can to censor opinions he doesn’t want to hear. He has his goons arresting, incarcerating, and killing American citizens. He’s cut funding for cancer research at children’s hospitals while he rakes in literally billions of dollars for himself and his family. He’s coming after our right to vote. He’s protecting pedophiles and won’t explain it. He’s lining the pockets of billionaires, all while neglecting the sick, the poor, and the hungry in the name of Jesus by the way.”

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Colbert, meanwhile, said he had “dropped an edible and strapped in” to see what the president had to say. It was about what he expected.

“According to Trump’s team the official theme of the speech was ‘America at 250: Strong, Prosperous, and Respected,’” Colbert explained. “Though if you have to say you’re strong, prosperous, and respected it kind of feels like you’re not.”

Mark Shanahan can be reached at [email protected]. Follow him @MarkAShanahan.