Woo, what a night last night, huh?!
We've all been on the edge of our seats and the frayed ends of our nerves for weeks, and at last, Election Night was here. And from the sounds of things on social media, most of us were chewing the insides of our cheeks just waiting, waiting, waiting for a bright spot. Things looked bleak at first, but they sure turned around! And though it certainly wasn't the much vaunted "Blue Wave" so many were hoping for, it was nonetheless a historic sea change in Congress.
But getting to that turning point sure was agonizing. Thankfully, we had one potent source of comic relief: Lurking John King.
....what exactly was he doing all night?
John King lurking in the background is my favorite part of the CNN setβ Andrew Bogusch (@Andrew Bogusch)1478659546.0
King is of course an institution at CNN, and while on camera was doing his usual deft journalistic work, working the maps, giving the stats. But when CNN would go to Wolf Blitzer and Jake Tapper (who, it must be said, looks like Sam the Eagle--Google it and tell me I'm wrong), there King would be... well, lurking! There's just no other word for it! Just sort of in the background, sometimes poking at the maps, but mostly just horsing around on his phone. It sort of seemed like there'd be some miscalculations and the camera crew couldn't figure out how to keep him out of the shots. It was, in a word, hilarious.
And Twitter definitely took notice!
John King is in the shame corner https://t.co/BpIvY2fF6Wβ Ross W Berman IV (@Ross W Berman IV)1541560493.0
John King is the Haunting of Hill House ghost of CNNβs election coverage https://t.co/SA9rxuo7Xgβ Sh.B. (@Sh.B.)1541561500.0
I mean: https://t.co/ZOOpbWoYCRβ Sh.B. (@Sh.B.)1541570552.0
Like seriously: https://t.co/FhyAYff3VXβ Sh.B. (@Sh.B.)1541570784.0
Anyone else watching @CNN feel like they are watching an Edward Albee play with John King just lurking in the background?β TeachersAgainstTrump (@TeachersAgainstTrump)1541563422.0
@iliseweiner Lurking John King should be a meme. #lurkingjohnking https://t.co/uQ1yrUWRKcβ Colby Hall (@Colby Hall)1541552107.0
Watching CNN....who is John King texting all night?!?! https://t.co/0lrrsBPuvaβ Ian Aitken (@Ian Aitken)1541561232.0
@ian80aitken Heβs the best part of all of thisβ Kathy Petras (@Kathy Petras)1541561348.0
watching john king poke away at his neat election map is definitely the best part of cnn's coverage https://t.co/OQZnZuGG4hβ Alison Mah (@Alison Mah)1541557143.0
John King texting when he thinks heβs off screen dot tumblr dot comβ Mollie Bowman (@Mollie Bowman)1541559991.0
Had to change the channel to MSNBC because John King kept hovering in the background like the Bent Neck Lady π± https://t.co/9Uwk7oMAI8β Graham Flanagan (@Graham Flanagan)1541561435.0
Anyway, thank you John King for getting us through the night! CNN, if you're reading, please renew John's contract at least through 2020, because we're gonna need him again on Election Night. Maybe you could give him a table to play solitaire on, or a string to do "cat's cradle" with, or something. Just keep him busy back there!
H/T Mashable, The Independent