Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen perform part of Trump's Ukraine call for Stephen Colbert

Helen Mirren and Ian McKellen do Trump
(Image credit: Screenshot/YouTube/The Late Show)

Stephen Colbert had Dame Helen Mirren and Sir Ian McKellen as guests on Wednesday's Late Show, and he asked if they'd do him a favor. "You're trying to, you know, Brexit ... Britain exiting the European Union," Colbert told his British guests. "We're trying to get Trump to exit the Oval Office — we're attempting a Trexit over here."

"Donald Trump, you may have heard, released a transcript of him essentially extorting the Ukrainian president," Colbert said. "Now, he says it's a 'perfect' phone call, perfectly innocent, and he wants to read it on air in a fireside chat, and he thinks when he reads it out loud, it will suddenly seem so innocent that you won't want him removed from office. And since I have two of the greatest living actors right here, I was wondering if ... " And he handed out their scripts.

It was actually just one line from Trump's July 25 phone call with Ukrainian President Volodymyr Zelensky, but it's a memorable one. Colbert had Mirren and McKellen act out the line in different tones, but it made no difference, Mirren said. "There's no way of saying that any other way except for guiltily. Because it's a guilty phrase."

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Mirren and McKellen also discussed their new film, The Good Liar, and tried out their own lying chops on Colbert. You can watch that below. Peter Weber

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Peter Weber, The Week US

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.