Late night hosts celebrate 'twosday,' joke darkly about Putin's Ukraine invasion

Russian President Vladimir Putin has started his Ukraine invasion, Stephen Colbert grimaced on Tuesday's Late Show. "Why is Putin sending troops into a place that's not his country? He claims it's to carry out 'peacekeeping functions.' And it's true: 'I keep this piece of Ukraine, I keep that piece of Ukraine, I keep all the pieces of Ukraine!'"
President Biden responded Tuesday by hitting Russia with sanctions on two banks and its sovereign debt, which "means no Russian money can come into the U.S.," Colbert said. "There goes Tucker Carlson's sponsors."
Russia's invasion "makes for a very stressful and uncertain time on the ground in Ukraine, but there's one person having the time of his life: multilingual AP reporter Philip Crowther," Colbert said, showing Crowther's viral video. "Now, that looks impressive, but if you translate it, he's just repeating the phrase: 'Where is the library? I must use the bathroom urgently.'"
Subscribe to The Week
Escape your echo chamber. Get the facts behind the news, plus analysis from multiple perspectives.

Sign up for The Week's Free Newsletters
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.
From our morning news briefing to a weekly Good News Newsletter, get the best of The Week delivered directly to your inbox.

The Late Show offered to teach you just one new language: Putin.
Yes, "a journalist in Ukraine was reporting the news on the Russia crisis in six different languages, and nailed it," Jimmy Fallon said on The Tonight Show. "He also knows six different ways to say 'I'm ready to leave Ukraine now.'" It is Twosday — 2-22-22 — something that "only happens once every 100 years," he added. "President Biden was like, 'I didn't care then, I didn't care now.'"
"The last time an all-2 date happened was Feb. 22, 1922," Jimmy Kimmel said on his Kimmel Live 2-22-22 Special. "American women had just recently won the right to vote, Amelia Earhart bought her first plane, now-President Joe Biden had just passed his first gallstone."
"The biggest No. 2 of them all, Donald Trump," launched his new social media platform Monday, "and you're not going to believe this, but the rollout did not go well," Kimmel said. "Truth Social has been such a disappointment so far, Trump may have to rename it to Don Jr." And as "Putin appears to be inching toward a full-scale attack on Ukraine," he added, "Trump, of course, called him a 'genius' and called the idea 'wonderful' today. What kind of hotel room hidden-camera video does that Putin have? We want to see it, already!"
"The social media platform Snapchat unveiled a new feature last week that allows users to share their real-time location with friends," Late Night's Seth Meyers said. "You can learn more about it in an upcoming episode of Dateline."
A free daily email with the biggest news stories of the day – and the best features from TheWeek.com
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.
-
June 22 editorial cartoons
Cartoons Sunday’s political cartoons include a SpaceX flight, Bibi pulling Donald Trump toward war, and an ICE agent looking like a bank robber
-
5 bunker-busting cartoons about the Israel-Iran war
Cartoons Political cartoonists take on Iran waiting for Pete Hegseth to leak war plans and Donald Trump's wish for a Nobel prize
-
Malaysia's delicious food and glorious beaches
The Week Recommends From 'colourful' George Town to the 'jungled interior' of Langkawi, Malaysia is incredibly diverse
-
Israel strikes Iran, killing military and nuclear chiefs
Speed Read Israeli officials said the attack was a 'preemptive' strike on Iran's nuclear program
-
Israel deports Thunberg after seizing Gaza aid boat
speed read The Swedish activist was delivering food and medical aid to Palestine, highlighting the growing humanitarian crisis there
-
Colombian senator shot on streets of Bogotá
speed read Miguel Uribe Turbay, who has announced his candidacy for next year's presidential election, was shot at a rally
-
Trump says Putin vowed retaliation for Kyiv strike
speed read The Russian president intends to respond to Ukraine's weekend drone strikes on Moscow's warplanes
-
Dutch government falls over immigration policy
speed read The government collapsed after anti-immigration politician Geert Wilders quit the right-wing coalition
-
South Korea elects liberal Lee as president
speed read Lee Jae-myung, leader of the Democratic Party, was elected president following months of political instability in the wake of Yoon Suk Yeol's impeachment
-
Why are military experts so interested in Ukraine's drone attack?
TODAY'S BIG QUESTION The Zelenskyy government's massive surprise assault on Russian airfields was a decisive tactical victory — could it also be the start of a new era in autonomous warfare?
-
Nationalist wins tight Polish presidential election
speed read Karol Nawrocki beat Rafal Trzaskowski in Poland's presidential runoff election