NEW YORK — (CNN) On the eve of President-elect Donald Trump’s inauguration, late night hosts like Jimmy Fallon, Jimmy Kimmel and Seth Meyers readied themselves and their viewers for the incoming Trump administration.

The beginning of Donald Trump’s presidency and the end of Barack Obama’s was such a big deal that a late night host of the past came out of the woodwork. Stephen Colbert’s old “Colbert Report” pundit persona returned to the airwaves on CBS’ “The Late Show.”

Colbert’s old persona “Stephen Colbert” — who said, for legal reasons, that he was actually the “identical twin cousin” of his old persona — entered New York’s Ed Sullivan Theater carrying Captain America’s shield, prepared to talk about President Obama’s legacy.

“Well, well, well, at long last our America hating, secret Muslim, lead from behind, terrorist, fist bumping, hopey, changey, apologist in chief is leaving office,” the faux Colbert said.

After taking Obama to task for his two terms in office, “Colbert” surprisingly asked him not to go, saying “without him in opposition, I’m scared to be alone with my own thoughts.”

As for the actual Colbert, the “Late Show” host prepared his audience for the incoming president.”We all knew this day would come,” Colbert said in his opening monologue. “It’s inevitable, like death and never seeing his taxes.”

One of Trump’s biggest critics, NBC “Late Night” host Seth Meyers reminded his audience when Trump would be taking the oath of office on Friday.

“Tomorrow at noon eastern time, Donald Trump will be sworn in as the 45th and final president of the United States,” Meyers said.

Meyers also devoted a 10-minute “Closer Look” segment to Trump taking office and compared Trump’s inauguration to watching the hapless 1-15 Cleveland Browns play in the Super Bowl.

Looking into the camera, he asked his viewers, “Can you feel the excitement?”

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“It’s like getting ready for the Super Bowl if the Super Bowl was the Cleveland Browns versus players who were cut by the Cleveland Browns.”

Jimmy Fallon kicked off NBC’s “The Tonight Show” saying he got an early look at some of the rejected lines from the President-elect’s inauguration speech. The lines included “four score and seven bankruptcies ago” and “read my lips: no new taxes — for me.”

The other Jimmy of late night, ABC’s Jimmy Kimmel, got a head start on the new presidency by asking people how they thought Trump was doing on his first day in office. The thing was he asked people on Wednesday in his segment “Lie Witness News.”

And Conan O’Brien, host of TBS’ “Conan,” even went as far as to comment on Friday’s weather report for Washington D.C.

“Meteorologists are predicting that the weather for the inauguration tomorrow will be cold, damp and dreary,” O’Brien said in his opening monologue. “However, things will warm up later in the afternoon during The Rapture.”

TBS, like CNN, is owned by Time Warner.

The-CNN-Wire ™ & © 2017 Cable News Network, Inc., a Time Warner Company. All rights reserved. (PHOTO: Scott Gries/Comedy Central)