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Stephen Colbert Keeps ‘The Late Show’ Political With ‘Hunger Games’ Parody And Hillary Clinton

By Dustin Murrell
Published on: 12:07 PST, Oct 27, 2015

One night before welcoming Hillary Clinton to the stage, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert host managed to take shots at several political figures — including Jim Webb, Lincoln Chafee, and Donald Trump — all while doing his best Hunger Games parody.

This wasn’t the first time Colbert used a Hunger Games parody on The Late Show. As the Atlantic recounts, Stephen did a similar act in September as GOP presidential candidate hopefuls began dropping out of the race. After both Rick Perry and Scott Walker had officially dropped out, Colbert performed a segment entitled The Hungry for Power Games. Commenting that the election process is a “vicious battle for survival on a cutthroat arena,” it reminded him of the extremely popular book-into-movie franchise, The Hunger Games.

After a graphic of an enflamed presidential seal fills the screen, we are returned to Colbert who is suddenly dresssed in a purple wig and rose-printed blazer — The Late Show host’s best attempt at chanelling his inner Caesar Flickerman. While he wasn’t confronted by any Hunger Games cast members on the first run, the bit was well-received enough that they probably knew right then they’d be bringing it back before the election cycle was over.

Since that night, The Late Show with Stephen Colbert has been host to several political figures, including Senator Bernie Sanders, Senator Ted Cruz, Donald Trump, Senator Elizabeth Warren, First Lady Michelle Obama, Secretary of State John Kerry, Senator John McCain, and President Bill Clinton. But before Mrs. Clinton could make a stop, Colbert and his team from The Late Show decided it was time to bid farewell to a couple of Hillary’s defeated opponents — by way of another The Hungry for Power Games bit.

After hearing Joe Biden explain why he wasn’t interested in running for president, Colbert summed up his answer: “Being a candidate sucks. It’s an ugly, nasty battle with a single, bloodied survivor.” That, of course, set the Late Show host up for the punchline: “It’s like The Hunger Games!”

When the flaming POTUS seal went away this time, Colbert was in a different Caesar costume than the first time. His wig was now blue, his blazer now silver. Bringing up once again the graphic that shows all of the possible future presidents, he noted that the field appeared to be “balding” when you removed the GOP (spoiler alert: he makes fun of Donald Trump’s hair at this point). He then led us down recent memory lane, showing the “highlights” of both candidates’ attempts to replace Obama.

But his Caesar Flickerman impersonation was so good that it warranted the arrival of Stanley Tucci, the actor who portrayed Flickerman in the Hunger Games movies. As Entertainment Weekly reported, after claiming that The Late Show didn’t have the legal rights for Stephen to even know who Caesar Flickerman was — “Obviously, the character I’m doing is his brother, Julius Flickerman” — they both decided that Colbert would be better off doing his version of Effie Trinkett instead.

And this all comes one night before Stephen brings on the Democrat with the strongest poll numbers in the race, Hillary Rodham Clinton. In fact, to prepare his audience for tonight’s guest, he recounted Hillary’s previous week on last night’s episode. Obviously still in full-on campaign mode, Clinton will have to answer some serious questions from the Late Show funnyman, who has interviewed Hillary before when he hosted The Colbert Report on Comedy Central. As noted by the Seattle Times, Clinton will be joined by TV chef Anthony Bourdain and actress Carrie Brownstein.

Catch Hillary Clinton on tonight’s episode of The Late Show with Stephen Colbert, scheduled to air at 11:35 EST on CBS.

[Image via People]

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