-How are you, Kristen? -Hi, Seth.
Great to see you. I'm doing great.
I'm trying to get a few Z's before tomorrow night.
It's gonna be a marathon, I'm anticipating.
It's great to see you. -I think a lot of people
are worried about insanity in the coming days,
and, also, a lot of people feel gratitude
towards you for the sanity you brought to the proceedings
in the second presidential debate.
You even got positive feedback from President Trump.
What was it like hearing that he thought you did a good job?
-Well, first of all, thank you so much for your nice comments.
It was nice that people on both sides of the aisle
felt as though it had gone well.
My goal, really, Seth, was just to make sure
that it was a good discussion.
To prepare, I reached out to voters, undecided voters,
Democrats, Republicans, Independents,
and so I got a sense of what voters wanted to hear about,
everything from healthcare to the economy.
And so I really tried to bring that to the debate.
And I was really relieved that people felt as though
it was a good discussion. That was my goal.
-I had doubts about the mute button being effective...
-[ Laughs ] -...but it seems, though,
even the threat of one had an impact.
And we did get to hear both candidates talk more.
I know prep is a key to any debate moderation.
What did you plan for in the days leading up for it?
-Well, we literally planned for every scenario.
And in order to prepare, I mean, I spent hours every single day,
from like 6:00 a.m. in the morning until midnight
thinking about every single question,
crafting every single question.
But part of the prep was just mental preparation,
so I have to give props to my husband and also to Cody Rigsby,
my Peloton instructor, because I worked out with him,
like, every day to relieve stress.
And he's this great motivator.
And he would say things like, "I know you're feeling stressed.
I know everyone's going through a lot,"
and I wanted to just say, "Cody, you have no idea
what I am preparing for."
So, that's how I got prepared and got through those days
leading up to the debate.
-I can only imagine there's a great deal of preparation
for tomorrow, as well.
One thing that everyone seems to be preparing for is,
one, not knowing an outcome tomorrow,
and, two, the very real possibility that the President
will announce an outcome.
How are news anchors, news reporters,
bracing for these two likelihoods?
-We're gonna be prepared for any and all possibility,
just like any breaking-news event that we would be covering.
And, really, Seth, it's just about giving people the facts,
making sure that we are covering things in real time,
as they happen, and making sure that we're getting it right.
That's the most important part I think of being a journalist.
And so that's what we're going to endeavor to do
throughout the day tomorrow as we cover what's gonna be
a really historic election here.
-You got sort of as high a praise as you could get.
You were played by Maya Rudolph on "SNL."
You must have known to some degree that was coming.
What was it like seeing yourself portrayed on "SNL"?
-I have to say, I was almost as anxious
thinking about being portrayed on "SNL"
as I was about doing the debate.
But what an honor to be portrayed by Maya Rudolph!
She is one of my favorites.
I am just in awe of her as an actress, as a comedian.
I was literally -- had my face pressed against the TV
like that, laughing, and just sort of screaming.
It was a little surreal.
And I thought she did a great job.
It was so much fun. I was glad that there was
a lot of focus on the candidates, as well.
I do have to say, though, Seth,
for the record, I'm not really a shot girl.
I don't do shots. That was a part of the skit.
I'm more of a sauvignon blanc kind of a girl.
But it was a lot of fun. -Alright, that is good to know.
As far as what "SNL" could get wrong about you,
it's not the worst.
-[ Laughs ] Exactly.
It was so much fun. -You avoided not only
a disaster at the debate, but you also avoided a disaster
a while back while you were with Andrea Mitchell, your colleague.
Can we take a look at this clip real quick?
-So it is quite remarkable. It's not exactly clear.
Politics -- Ooh!
It's a little windy out here, Andrea.
-I mean, really good maintaining of the composure there, Kristen.
-You know, I didn't have --
know that I had those reflexes until that happened.
To be totally truthful, though,
Seth, it looked a lot scarier on TV.
And Andrea, who I refer to as my D.C. Mom,
had this reaction of just sheer terror.
You can hear her gasp when those light stands
started falling in front of me, and my mom said,
"You know, I'm so glad she reacted that way,
because that's how I was reacting
when I was watching on my living-room couch."
So I think she sort of brought what a lot of moms
were feeling in that moment.
It was lot of fun, though, and I had some fun with it.
I started tweeting at the Eagles --
of course, my hometown team.
I'm from Philadelphia, and saying, you know,
I was ready for the draft pick,
which was going on at that time, so...
-It was very nice that the Eagles noticed.
And as a fellow football fan, I can only tell you,
when your football team knows you exist,
there's no higher praise. -Yeah.
It was definitely a great, great day.
And, in fact, I'm in Philly right now, Seth,
to cover the election and all of
the last-minute campaign stops that are going on.
And so, really excited about the Eagles win this weekend.
-Hopefully it'll put everybody in a good mood
and get them out to the polls tomorrow.
Have a great day tomorrow. -Thank you, Seth.
-Really nice talking to you, Kristen.
-Thanks for having me on. I really appreciate it.
So much fun.