Who is Mike Johnson? Late-night hosts react to the long-awaited speaker of the House

The late-night hosts have been having a lot of fun with the struggles in Washington D.C. to select a new speaker of the House the past few weeks, and now that the journey has finally come to an end, the hosts definitely had reactions.

The House of Representatives elected Rep. Mike Johnson from Louisiana to become the 56th speaker of the House on Wednesday, ending a three-week mess that has played out very publicly.

Not only did all four major late-night shows react to the news — Jimmy Kimmel said Johnson looks like a kid dressed up as a Congressman for Halloween — they hit on many of the same aspects of the story. Here’s a look at how it all breaks down.

The wait is finally over

It took three weeks of trying and multiple failed attempts to fill the speaker seat after Kevin McCarthy was ousted, here’s what the hosts thought about it finally getting done.

Jimmy Fallon:

“They found someone just in time, if the job stayed open any longer it would have automatically gone to Ryan Seacrest.”

“Republicans said Mike Johnson is their first choice… after their first 10 choices lost.”

“Let’s just say if speaker nominees were Star Wars characters, he’s their Jar Jar.”

“Let’s just say if speaker nominees were halloween candy, this guy’s a Necco Wafer.”

“It’s like being at a restaurant and hearing, ‘Do you have Coke? No. Do you have Pepsi? No. Fine I guess I’ll have the Mike Johnson.”

Stephen Colbert:

“Our long national nightmare is finally different.”

“Johnson was just elected this afternoon, getting votes from all 220 Republicans. Finally, a man who appeals to all factions of the Republican party: the MAGA faithful, the social conservatives, the white nationalists and (with a picture of Lauren Boebert) the horny Beetlejuice goblins."

The Mike Johnson name

While it may be low-hanging fruit, the hosts just couldn’t help themselves when it came to Johnson's rather common name.

Stephen Colbert:

“He is the most generic sounding congressional leader since the election of James Kirkland Brand.”

Seth Meyers:

“Wow, the speaker race was so embarrassing they’re not even giving their real names anymore. Mike Johnson is the name you give when you check into your hotel with your mistress. That’s what Spirit Halloween calls their Michael Jackson costume.”

Jimmy Fallon:

“That’s right, the new speaker of the House is Mike Johnson, and if that name sounds familiar it’s because it’s on every fake ID.”

Jimmy Kimmel:

“Not only is he not the best choice for speaker, you can’t even definitively say that Mike Johnson is the best Mike Johnson they could have chose. There’s Mike Johnson from Louisiana, he’s a Republican state representative who may have been a better Johnson overall. You have quadruple gold medalist Mike Johnson, you’ve got Canadian bodybuilder Mike Johnson, Swedish chef Mike Johnson who would make everyone little meatballs every day. You could have given the gavel to one of at least five Mike Johnsons in the NFL or even country music’s number-one Black yodeler Mike Johnson.”

Johnson’s election-denier past

But what really seems to irk the hosts the most, is the fact that Johnson previously led the charge in asking the Supreme Court to throw out the 2020 presidential election on behalf of then-president Donald Trump, who falsely claimed it was fraudulent.

Jimmy Fallon:

“Johnson is pretty controversial because he led the effort to overturn the 2020 presidential election. So whether or not he won today, he was going to say he did.”

Jimmy Kimmel:

“He’s been called the most important architect of the electoral college objections, contesting the results of the election in 2020. He voted to decertify the results of that election confirming Biden as president, so he checks off all the important boxes. He’s also anti-gay, anti-choice, pro-conspiracy theory — he seems terrific.”

“You could go to the middle of the phone book and pick any one of the hundreds of Mike Johnsons, each one would be a better choice for speaker, because not one of them tried to overthrow the presidential election, in the house that he now represents.”

“Even though Mike Johnson tried to decertify Biden’s election win, Biden called Johnson to congratulate him because that’s what normal people do. Biden said he looked forward to working together to find common ground, and Johnson said he looked forward to burning democracy to the ground.”

Seth Meyers:

“House of Representatives voted to elect Louisiana congressman Mike Johnson speaker of the House. And apparently this election result he will accept.”

Meyers also took a deeper dive into the selection in his "A Closer Look" segment.

The Tonight Show Starring Jimmy Fallon and Late Night With Seth Meyers air on NBC; Jimmy Kimmel Live! airs on ABC; The Late Show With Stephen Colbert airs on CBS.