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.

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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.