While Jimmel Kimmel accepted that JD Vance and Tim Walz showed a “lot of respect” for one another on Tuesday night, his biggest takeaway from the vice presidential debate was far less complimentary: it was “very boring.”
The two candidates went head-to-head on the debate stage at the CBS News studio in New York City, where they were questioned about key election issues including abortion, climate change and the conflict in the Middle East.
Not long after the debate aired, Jimmy Kimmel Live! hit screens with the late-night host offering a scathing critique on the night – going as far as to declare that he missed the drama Donald Trump brings to the stage.
“Walz and Vance, they stuck to the issues, they showed each other a lot of respect,” Kimmel said in his opening monologue.
“It was, uh, very boring…”
He continued: “I’ll be honest, I like these better with Trump, I really do.”
Tuesday night saw a marked difference in the mood from the presidential debate between Trump and Kamala Harris on September 10, with Vance and Walz largely cordial and even agreeing with each other on several key policy points.
“Both candidates were pretty darn polite to each other,” Kimmel said, before pulling up a montage of the two candidates declaring they “agree” with one another.
“Trump is not going to like that at all, you’re in trouble JD.”
The debate, however, wasn’t entirely without adversity with Walz admitting that he misspoke when he previously claimed he was in Hong Kong during the Tiananmen Square protests in 1989.
Meanwhile, Vance failed to directly address whether Trump lost the 2020 election to President Joe Biden, leaving the Minnesota governor pointing out his “non-answer.”
Kimmel drew a comparison between the Ohio senator’s defense of Trump and the lawyers defending disgraced rapper Sean “Diddy” Combs, who faces a slew of sex trafficking charges, which he denies.
“In some ways you can’t help but kinda feel sympathy for JD Vance having to defend Donald Trump, who he himself openly denounced. It’s kind of like being Diddy’s defense attorney,” he said.
Kimmel, however, questioned how important Tuesday night’s debate really was.
“I don’t know if anyone’s vote was changed tonight,” he said.
“It’s like taking your kids apple picking: about halfway through you’re like, ‘OK, you know what, this sounded like it was going to be fun, but what’s the point?’”
A CBS/YouGov snap poll found 42 percent of viewers thought Vance emerged as the debate victor, with 41 percent believing that Watz “won” the debate. However, just one percent of voters who tuned into the debate said it had changed their minds about their voting choices in the November election, a separate CNN flash poll found.
Kimmel’s verdict on the debate was echoed across some of the other late night shows.
OnThe Late Show, host Stephen Colbert called out the vice presidential nominees’ “dull” performance.
“The VP candidates were both different flavors of dull,” Colbert said.
“JD Vance looked like a business lemur on beta blockers, and Tim Walz was, you know, the ol’ likable coach but appeared to be way over-caffeinated.”
He added: “Tonight was like having Thanksgiving with your most nervous uncle and your smuggest nephew. It was unpleasant, awkward, and thankfully, you only have to do it once every four years.”