Stephen Colbert congratulates Cartoon Donald Trump, and the real victor, Vladimir Putin

Stephen Colbert interviews Cartoon Donald Trump and Vladimir Putin — (Image credit: Late Show)

"Folks, even though it looks like Hillary Clinton will take the popular vote, we have to accept that the winner of this election was a Washington outsider who no one thought had a shot at running this country: Vladimir Putin," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday night's Late Show. One of the few firm positions Donald Trump took during the campaign was on how great Putin is, even after the CIA and other U.S. intelligence services told him that the Russian government hacked the Democrats, Colbert said. And just yesterday, "Michael Rogers, the sitting head of the NSA, said the Clinton campaign was targeted by a foreign power."

When Putin spoke with Trump after his election, "the new celebrity power couple — I'm going with Donomir Prumpin — discussed threats and challenges facing the United States," Colbert said, "which was easy to remember, because the threat was talking to the challenge." Afterward, the Kremlin said the call was part of a "joint effort to normalize relations," he added, and he didn't think that's a great idea: "Don't normalize it. It's not normal. Once again, it's weird."

"Despite the fact that we know Vladimir Putin's a bad guy, Trump cartoonishly insists that he's a model for leadership," Colbert said. "Well, here now to answer for this is Cartoon Donald Trump." Colbert congratulated the cartoon president-elect, but it turned out Cartoon Trump wasn't alone. "You just got that answer from him," Colbert said, after Cartoon Vladimir Putin whispered something in Cartoon Trump's ear. "What? No, we're just good friends," Cartoon Trump said. "We're so close we finish each other's..." "Elections," Cartoon Putin said. Then things got kind of strange. Watch below. Peter Weber

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Peter has worked as a news and culture writer and editor at The Week since the site's launch in 2008. He covers politics, world affairs, religion and cultural currents. His journalism career began as a copy editor at a financial newswire and has included editorial positions at The New York Times Magazine, Facts on File, and Oregon State University.