For the second time this week, Stephen Colbert had to change up a taping of “The Late Show” on the fly because of a major news break. On Tuesday, it was Trump economic adviser Gary Cohn quitting his job, and Thursday, news of North Korean dictator Kim Jong Un inviting Donald Trump to talk about denuclearization. On top of that, Colbert had to make late changes to his monologue on Tuesday because of the Sam Nunberg.
Midway through Thursday’s taping, Colbert delivered what amounted to a short monologue about Trump and North Korea.
“We have some very late breaking news that I think I should probably do from here,” Colbert said, explaining why he wasn’t sitting behind his desk. “Because we would have done this in the monologue if we had known. It literally happened while we were doing the show.”
“I’m not entirely sure what I’m about to say,” Colbert said as he launched into an explanation of how it looks like a very real possibility that North Korea might stand down, and how Kim invited Trump to participate in peace talks.
“Wow, this can only mean one thing,” he said. “Dennis Rodman is going to get the Nobel Peace Prize.”
“We don’t know all the details yet, but because North Korea is an economically-starved country, the invitation is BYO-everything,” he said. “Nobody knows where this will end up, this is all so fresh. But Trump gave us a hint of his vision for the end of 70 years of hostility on the Korean peninsula when he told a reporter, ‘Hopefully, you will give me credit.’”
And then came the climactic zinger.
“I will happily give you credit,” Colbert said before goofing up in the middle of the following line twice before finally delivering it to cheers from the audience. “Now, how about bringing peace to your own country first?”
You can watch this segment from Thursday’s “Late Show” in the video embedded up the top or on YouTube.