--- title: Stephen Colbert, John Oliver Montclair Film Festival: Trump description: During a live conversation at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center, Stephen Colbert and John Oliver spoke openly about Trump's presidency. canonical: https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/ author: Megan McCluskey article:opinion: false article:content_tier: free article:published_time: 2016-11-21T15:58:05.000Z article:modified_time: 2026-08-19T07:44:36.552Z og:title: Stephen Colbert and John Oliver on Trump: 'Don't Give Him an Inch' og:description: "They tried to stop him and they couldn’t." og:url: https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/ og:site_name: TIME og:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd7056d84e7de30/6988af33cd1bba41a270329a/stephen-colbert-john-oliver.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 og:image:width: 594 og:image:height: 334 og:image:alt: A Post-Election Evening With Stephen Colbert & John Oliver to Benefit Montclair Film Festival og:type: article twitter:card: summary_large_image twitter:title: Stephen Colbert and John Oliver on Trump: 'Don't Give Him an Inch' twitter:description: "They tried to stop him and they couldn’t." twitter:image: https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd7056d84e7de30/6988af33cd1bba41a270329a/stephen-colbert-john-oliver.jpg?branch=production&width=594&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=16:9 ---  # Stephen Colbert and John Oliver on Donald Trump's Election: 'Don't Give Him an Inch' > Sponsored content. 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Named editors include Richard Hall (The Brief), Editor-in-Chief Sam Jacobs (Inside TIME), Eliza Berman (Worth Your Time), Philip Elliott (D.C. Brief), Justin Worland (Future Proof) and Harry Booth (In the Loop). Health Matters is written by TIME's health desk. #### How do I sign up for a TIME newsletter? Go to time.com/newsletters, choose the newsletters you want and enter your email address. There is no cost and no subscription requirement. ### Sources * TIME Newsletters: [time.com/newsletters](/c/time-nl-network-2026q3/newsletters?i=f89549ef-6354-49eb-aa51-aa7352546d66&cr=time-nl-network-2026q3-v1)  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 21, 2016 3:58 PM UTC  Stephen Colbert(L) and John Oliver (R) onstage at the Post-Election Evening to Benefit Montclair Film Festival at NJ Performing Arts Center on November 19, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. Stephen Colbert(L) and John Oliver (R) onstage at the Post-Election Evening to Benefit Montclair Film Festival at NJ Performing Arts Center on November 19, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey. Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Montclair Film Festival  by [Megan McCluskey](https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/)  ## Megan McCluskey Staff Writer Nov 21, 2016 3:58 PM UTC [Stephen Colbert](http://time.com/4534681/stephen-colbert-president-obama-job-interview/) and [John Oliver](http://time.com/money/4572208/john-oliver-money-champion-2016/) have both spent the past year making it perfectly clear to their shows’ viewers how they [feel about Donald Trump](http://time.com/4507267/john-oliver-political-scandals-last-week-tonight/), but during a live conversation at the New Jersey Performing Arts Center Saturday night, the pair was able to speak more openly about politics than the late-night arena typically allows. During the benefit show — titled “Wow, That Was Weird: A Post-Election Evening With Stephen Colbert and John Oliver” — the two chatted about the lead-up and aftermath of Trump’s victory, noting that it has been difficult to find humor in what has occurred throughout the election cycle. “This whole process has not been fun, because it’s the inverse version of what we normally do,” the _Last Week Tonight_ host said, according to [_Entertainment Weekly_](http://www.ew.com/article/2016/11/20/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-election-donald-trump). “When covering a campaign, you try and take things of substance and put some sugar on it to make it palatable. But there was so little of substance this whole campaign — it was just a diabetes-inducing level of sugar, that your job kinda flips on its head. You’re just trying to find a way to inject substance into sugar.” Colbert — whose [live election night special](http://time.com/4563822/stephen-colbert-showtime-clinton-trump/), _Democracy’s Series Finale: Who’s Going to Clean Up This Sh-t?_, grew increasingly somber as the results flowed in — also touched on this note. “That show was the hardest thing I’ve ever done in my entire life,” he said. “You couldn’t cut to commercial either. We had a bunch of made-up commercials, but none of them were appropriate once we knew we were playing to an audience of the condemned. My audience was sobbing openly. Who can make jokes to a sobbing audience?” The _Late Show_ host went on to reveal his outlook on Trump’s presidency. “I’m all for giving him a chance, but don’t give him an inch. Because I believed everything he said, and I remember everything he said, and it’s horrifying,” Colbert said. “He owes the checks and balances of Washington nothing, because they tried to stop him and they couldn’t. And he’s a vindictive person. So, it’s all going to be fine. Merry Christmas.” **_Gifts:_** [**_The 100 Most Influential Images of All Time_**](http://shop.time.com/storefront/subscribe-to-time/link/1039114.html?xid=cm-TIMEShopscTIMEArticle) ```json [{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"NewsArticle","@id":"https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/","mainEntityOfPage":{"@type":"WebPage","@id":"https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/"},"headline":"Stephen Colbert and John Oliver on Donald Trump's Election: 'Don't Give Him an Inch'","datePublished":"2016-11-21T15:58:05.000Z","dateModified":"2026-08-19T07:44:36.552Z","description":"\"Who can make jokes to a sobbing audience?\"","url":"https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/","keywords":["Newsfeed","2016 Election","politics","stephen colbert","Donald Trump","the late show","John Oliver","Last Week Tonight","the late show with stephen colbert"],"thumbnailUrl":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd7056d84e7de30/6988af33cd1bba41a270329a/stephen-colbert-john-oliver.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","author":[{"@type":"Person","name":"Megan McCluskey","jobTitle":"Staff Writer","url":"https://time.com/author/megan-mccluskey/"}],"articleSection":"","image":[{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://static.time.com/v3/assets/bltea6093859af6183b/blt7cd7056d84e7de30/6988af33cd1bba41a270329a/stephen-colbert-john-oliver.jpg?branch=production&width=1200&quality=75&auto=webp&crop=1200:675&height=675","width":1200,"height":675,"headline":"A Post-Election Evening With Stephen Colbert & John Oliver to Benefit Montclair Film Festival","caption":"Stephen Colbert(L) and John Oliver (R) onstage at the Post-Election Evening to Benefit Montclair Film Festival at NJ Performing Arts Center on November 19, 2016 in Newark, New Jersey.","creditText":"Dave Kotinsky/Getty Images for Montclair Film Festival","representativeOfPage":true}],"publisher":{"@type":"Organization","name":"Time","url":"https://time.com/","logo":{"@type":"ImageObject","url":"https://time.com/images/logo.png","width":528,"height":156},"foundingDate":"March 3, 1923","sameAs":["https://www.facebook.com/time","https://www.instagram.com/time/?hl=en","https://twitter.com/time","https://www.pinterest.com/timemagazine"]}},{"@context":"https://schema.org","@type":"BreadcrumbList","itemListElement":[{"@type":"ListItem","position":1,"item":{"@id":"/tag/time-section-newsfeed/","name":"Newsfeed"}},{"@type":"ListItem","position":2,"item":{"@id":"https://time.com/4578376/stephen-colbert-john-oliver-donald-trump-election/","name":"Stephen Colbert and John Oliver on Donald Trump's Election: 'Don't Give Him an Inch'"}}]}] ```