If the U.S. election was a fairytale read by Benedict Cumberbatch

"Once upon a time, in a land called America, where there were states of blue to the North and red to the South and a beautiful White House in between, lived a lady who wanted to rule the kingdom very much..."

Somehow, the U.S. election is simultaneously more palatable and more terrifying when it's read as a fairytale by Benedict Cumberbatch.

In the clip above, taken from The Late Late Show, Cumberbatch dons a red dressing gown and reads a bedtime story to James Corden.

The story -- "The Tale of Election 2016" -- is one of orange monsters, a forest of deleted emails, and -- of course -- a terrifying cliffhanger ending...