Late Night Talk Show Hosts Seek to Make Us Smile Despite the Incident in Boston

The horrible incident in Boston this week has been plastered everywhere on television.

Late-night comedians who were supposed to do their late-night routines, making audiences laugh and forget, faltered in the face of this tragedy.

Conan O’Brien told his audience, "Boston's my hometown. It's where I grew up. It's where my family lives. So I wanted to take a moment to say, that like everyone here, my thoughts and prayers are with the people of Boston and everybody who's been affected by this absolutely senseless act…

That said, it is our job to do a show and we're gonna try to entertain you the very best we can. Which, given our track record, gives you people a 20 percent chance of having a good show tonight."

Jimmy Kimmel addressed the issue similarly, saving his usual raunch and ribbing and focusing on the matter at hand for someone in his position—sympathizing, and doing one’s best to cheer viewers.

"Well, it was a terrible day. Very bad things happened today for no good reason, and our thoughts are with the people of Boston and everyone who is suffering as a result of the bombings at the marathon. It’s a disgusting thing. I don’t understand it. But my job is to make you laugh and so I will try to do that -- and, I will probably fail. I’m failing already."

On "The Late Late Show with Craig Ferguson," the host skipped his usual introduction entirely, called "It's a great day for America.”

The Scottish comedian said it would be "insensitive at best."

He bluntly asked viewers, "Is anyone else sick of this s---? I seem to have to say that too often.”

"And I think, 'Well okay, if you want your mind taken off it, you know, watch a cartoon or a video or something. I understand it, it’s perfectly acceptable," he added. "I don’t think it’s a terrible thing to not want to think about it, but I can’t not think about it."

"That's not a soldier," he said of the as-yet unidentified bomber. "That's a terrorist.”