“The Late Show” host Stephen Colbert tackled the crisis in Ukraine following Russia’s invasion in his monologue on Thursday night, attempting to find the humor in a serious situation.
Mostly, Colbert stuck to breaking down Russian President Vladimir Putin’s announcement over why his country was launching attacks on Ukraine, picking up on Putin’s comment they were trying to “De-Nazi-fy” Ukraine, and that Russia was trying to help people “subject to abuse and genocide by the Kyiv regime for eight years.”
“De-Nazi fy? That’s hard to do when you’re acting like de Nazis,” Colbert commented.
He continued: “Now this is obviously a ridiculous claim. First of all [Ukrainian President] Zelensky’s not a Nazi. He’s from a Jewish background and he’s barely even a politician. He’s a former TV comedian. This is like if the U.S. invaded Canada to capture war criminal Eugene Levy. What I’m trying to say is the world is up ‘Schitt’s Creek.’”
During Putin’s speech, the Russian leader also warned the West not to get involved in the conflict, with a threat of strong retaliation.
“Something we’ve never experience?” Colbert said, using some of Putin’s words to set up his next joke. “He’s going to make a good Michael Bay movie?”
CNN cutting to an Applebee’s commercial as air raid sirens rang out in Kyiv also got the Colbert treatment. After he noted the cable network’s actions, he made a Chili’s-style quip: “Meanwhile, Ukraine is singing, ‘I want my country back, country back, country back.’”
Watch Colbert’s full monologue above.