Stephen Colbert channels Alex Jones, fairly accurately

(Image credit: Late Show)

published 20 April 2017

"I don't know about you, but I have been riveted to the trial of the century of the week," Stephen Colbert said on Wednesday's Late Show. He ran through some of the juicier parts of the Alex Jones custody trial, like the allegations that Jones had a proclivity to disrobe at home and during family therapy sessions as well as on the air, and his use of the "chili defense" to explain why he couldn't remember basic facts about his children. "But I feel for Alex Jones," Colbert said, "because I, too, for many years played a beloved right-wing character," Tuck Buckford, "who had a lot of the same legal problems, which he often talked about on his radio show."

He played a clip, and suffice it to say, Colbert really got into character, and there is chili and (SFW) disrobing involved.

Trevor Noah took a more philosophical tack on the Alex Jones trial on Tuesday's Daily Show, making the astute point that in America, if you really want to know what somebody is like, you take them to court. He also noted that the real-world consequences of Jones' purported "performance art" include hoodwinking a gullible president. But Jones and President Trump are "basically doing the same thing," he said. "Trump is also a character who whips people up with whatever provocative bulls—t works, and then when it suits him, he steps away."

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Noah listed some examples, then had an idea: "You know what? Maybe Trump is also a performance artist. Maybe this is all a scam. Maybe if he went to court it would come out. Wouldn't that be crazy to find out? That Donald Trump, the entire time, has been somebody else?" Evidently, someone with a British accent. Watch Noah's enticing alternate reality 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.