Colbert Imagines Joe Exotic’s Reaction to LSU Tiger Mascot Vaccination (Video)

You all remember that thing we were briefly obsessed with at the start of the pandemic, right?

Late Show with Stephen Colbert

Louisiana State University won’t require its students and faculty to be fully vaccinated in order to attend the upcoming in-person fall semester, but the campus did vaccinate its mascot Mike the Tiger.

Earlier this week LSU posted a picture of Mike on their Twitter page encouraging people to get the shot and noting, “Got my COVID-19 vaccine.” Great for Mike, sure, but only 38% of the state of Louisiana is vaccinated and as of Aug. 10 was leading the nation in rising coronavirus infections, with hospitalizations up 124% from two weeks prior.

Colbert couldn’t resist poking fun at the fact that Mike the tiger now has both doses of a COVID-19 shot. In a quick video gag for tonight’s “Late Show with Stephen Colbert,” the host imagined what “Tiger King” star Joe Exotic would think.

Yeah, remember that Netflix show, the one the entire universe seemed collectively obsessed with at the beginning of lockdowns last year, with the cast of animal lovers from the south each more outlandish than the next? And then the leading man ended up sentenced to 22 years in prison for his role in a murder-for-hire plot?

Well, Colbert decided to call back to a Joe Exotic deep cut and remind us all of Exotic’s love of music. Between abusing his tigers and becoming an internet celebrity, Exotic also made big cat-themed country music.

His track “I Saw a Tiger” is the most famous by far, with over 1.6 million plays on Spotify alone (here’s a link to it if you need a refresher) — and that’s the one Colbert chose to parody.

They even edited Exotic’s original music video with their own animated footage of tigers doing things that lots of vaccinated people are looking forward to, like sharing a White Claw (haha, pun noticed, Colbert) with pals at a music festival or going on a cruise.

“I Saw a Vaccinated Tiger,” as Colbert’s fake country singer called it, is quite a tune. Check out the lyrics and the video below.

I saw a tiger in a Wallgreens

He got the COVID shot and a Lean Cuisine.

Now he’s protected and free to pursue

trips on a cruise ship or Bonnaroo

I saw a tiger getting the vaccine

that makes him wiser than Marjorie Taylor Greene.

I saw a tiger trust modern medicine

and now that he’s Pfizer’d

I can see him again.

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