For the episode of “The Late Show With Stephen Colbert” that aired the night before the 2022 midterm elections, Colbert kicked things off with a cold open that reimagined Christmas carols as songs about the election — well, more specifically, about the Republican Party generally and several Republican candidates specifically.
As always, the gag kicked off with a supercut of news reports explaining the situation, then came the gag itself, a commercial for a compilation album called “A Very Midterms.”
First, we got a parody of “Have Yourself a Very Merry Christmas,” called “Have Yourself a Gerrymandered District.”
Next was “I’m Dreaming of a White Turnout,” which was of course a parody of “White Christmas” and references, well, you get it.
Next, it was “I Saw Mommy Kissing Herschel Walker,” which of course parodies “I Saw Mommy Kissing Santa Claus,” but with the lyrics, “then he gave her 700 bucks.” Obviously, the joke is that Walker has a lot of secret kids and secret abortions that he’s lied about.
Next, “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Fascists,” a parody of “It’s Beginning to Look a Lot Like Christmas,” that of course accurately describes the Jan. 6 insurrection.
This was followed by “O QANON,” a parody of “O Tannenbaum,” with the lyric “Joe Biden is a lizard.”
The last song parody riffed off “Here Comes Santa Claus,” with the lyrics “Here comes Dr. Oz, here comes Dr. Oz, talking about crudite.”
The ad closed with a promise of a free book called “How the Grinch Stole Democracy.” Watch the video above.