The Late Show imagines Russia hacking into the NCAA March Madness bracket unveiling
On Sunday, the NCAA unveiled its March Madness brackets — and on Monday's Late Show, Stephen Colbert's writers dreamed up a scenario where Russia tipped the scales. "The numbers and stats have been crunched, the RPIs have been analyzed, and the results are all stored on a highly secure server that's impossible to hack," said CBS Selection Show anchor "Gary Nanafanafoferry." The overall No. 1 seed is Villanova, the defending champions, announced co-anchor "Larry Boberry." "They will be going up against the No. 9 seed — and this is a surprise — the Russian army." "I did not see that coming," said Nanafanafoferrry, staying in sportscaster character.
"I believe this will be the first time a foreign army will be competing in this tournament," Boberry deadpanned. "The Wildcats will have their work cut out for them, because it will be five players against 850,000 battle-tested soldiers." "Not to mention the Russian army has a great defense, and also nuclear weapons," Nanafanafoferrry replied, suggesting you might want to put the Red Army in the Final Four on your own office-pool bracket.
If that whetted your appetite for Russian hacking humor, Colbert fake-interviewed notorious Russian election hacker "Guccifer 2.0" later in the show about his texting relationship with Trump confidante Roger Stone. 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.
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