WATCH: Stephen Colbert has ‘ex-CNN’ employee clean up chicken poop in election coverage skit
Jenny Goldsberry
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Late-night host Stephen Colbert brought back his chicken “senior elections analyst” Steve Clucknacki Tuesday night as part of a bit to poke fun at CNN.
The Late Show had a segment on its “CBS Midterms Projections Coop,” in which two chickens, Steve Clucknacki and John Chicken Ala King, ate feed across a map of the United States as a joke to predict the election results. When one of the chickens inevitably defecated on the map, Colbert brought on mock “head statistician” Robert.
“You’re doing important work, Robert,” Colbert said. “Are you enjoying wiping up chicken poop while you wait for the results to come in?”
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“I used to work at CNN,” Robert lamented while holding the chicken.
The joke came as a mass CNN exodus continues. John Harwood left his position as CNN’s White House correspondent at the beginning of September. CNN canceled Brian Stelter’s Reliable Sources show in mid-August and let Stelter go after he had worked there since 2013. CNN legal correspondent Jeffrey Toobin also left the network in early August after 20 years.
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The network also switched up its election night anchors for the first time in 18 years, replacing Wolf Blitzer with Jake Tapper. The network has seen decreasing election night ratings since 2016, when it hit a then-record of 13.3 million viewers. Fox News would go on to beat that record in 2020, with almost 14 million viewers. CNN came in second that year, with 9.1 million viewers, but quickly recovered the following Saturday, gaining in the top spot.