Stephen Colbert Broke Out a Classic Cartoon Last Night

Sometimes, the only way to explain what’s going on is to refer to one of the more famous animated dogs ever, and Stephen Colbert’s show last night did so.

Between Seth Meyers and Stephen Colbert, one might say that we’re practically spoiled for choice these days for sharp, witty political comedy. Of course, the reason that that’s so, well, that’s a bit less funny. However, since Meyers’ Late Night didn’t have one of his Closer Looks last night, our eyes turn to Colbert and the Late Show.

Since the Late Show called in Scooby-Doo, it seems worth it. Check out Colbert’s opener below:

Stephen Colbert or an Episode of Scooby-Doo?

You do have to wait until about halfway through to get to the explanation of the Susan Rice story. (By the way, here’s the article in The Atlantic he cites early on for the original report on the unmasking request. It’s a bit of a long read. However, it does go into more detail than a three-minute explanation that involves a dubbed version of Scooby-Doo does, which probably doesn’t come as much of a surprise.)

So why exactly did Colbert break out the Hanna-Barbera? Well, don’t episodes of Scooby-Doo usually end with them pulling the rubber mask off of the villain and exclaiming the villain’s name loudly, just like they do in the re-dubbed clip? It is a more famous method of unmasking than the national security version thereof. Granted, the dubbed voices may not be the greatest, but they certainly get the point across.

Well, okay, that, and the fact that it was probably a shot at the current president’s now-infamous TV watching habits. (Here’s The Atlantic again, and they updated one of their articles on it yesterday.)

Also, before you think that they pulled that animated shot of the Harlem Globetrotters from a different cartoon, nope. Scooby-Doo Meets the Harlem Globetrotters is very, very real.

To paraphrase Shaggy, “Zoinks! Like, the man had a point!”

Next: Meyers vs. Colbert on Michael Flynn

The Late Show with Stephen Colbert airs a new episode tonight.