On Monday, many late-night hosts took to their usual forums to share reactions to the Boston Marathon tragedy, but two of the most notable late-night voices couldn't chime in at the time.
Both "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show" were in reruns on Monday night, but hosts Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart more than made up for delayed reactions on Tuesday by delivering heartfelt homage to the people of Boston and condemning those who attacked the city.
"Whoever did this obviously did not know sh-- about the people of Boston, 'cause nothing these terrorists do is going to shake them," Colbert said at the top of his show. "For Pete's sake, Boston was founded by the pilgrims, a people so tough, they had to buckle their god---- hats on. It is the cradle of the American Revolution; a city that withstood an 86-year (Red Sox) losing streak; a city that made it through the Big Dig -- a construction project that backed up traffic for 16 years."
And as Colbert stressed, the Boston Marathon featured the toughest of the tough.
"Here's what those cowards really don't get: They attacked the Boston Marathon, an event celebrating people who run 26 miles on their day off, until their nipples are raw -- for fun," he said. "And when those bombs went off, there were runners, who after finishing a marathon, kept running for another two miles to the hospital to donate blood."
In the end, Colbert concluded that "these maniacs may have tried to make life bad for the people of Boston, but all they can ever do is show just how good those people are."
That was a sentiment Stewart couldn't have agreed with more.
"I'm just going to say this to Boston: Thank you! Thank you for, once again, in the face of gross inhumanity, inspiring and solidifying my belief in humanity and the people of this country," Stewart said as he opened "The Daily Show."
Stewart then spoke to the people of Boston not just as a sympathetic and inspired TV host, but as a New York native.
"Oftentimes the two cities are accusing each other of various levels of suckitude," he joked. "But it is in situations like this that we realize that it is clearly a sibling rivalry, and that we are your brothers and sisters in this type of event. As a city that knows the feeling of confusion, anger, and grief, and chaos that comes with these events, I can tell you from personal experience, you’ve got a hell of a city going there. And you’ve done an incredible job in the face of all of this."
Which is, of course, a point no one can deny.