Late Night Roundup: Colbert, Noah, and Meyers Tackle Obama’s Commencement Speech: We All Knew Exactly Who He Was Talking About

Late show hosts Stephen Colbert, Trevor Noah, and Seth Meyers on Monday addressed former President Barack Obama’s virtual commencement addresses over the weekend, including the swing he took at the Trump administration’s coronavirus response.

Before diving into the exchange of words between Trump and Obama, Colbert blasted the president for taking the unproven coronavirus treatment hydroxychloroquine.

“Just when you think things can’t get any weirder, Trump cranks it up to eleven and then swallows the knob,” Colbert said referring to his White House meeting with restaurant leaders on Monday. “The topic was supposed to be reopening the economy, but then Trump started answering questions and it was TMI time.”

The host then played a clip of Trump revealing that he’s been taking hydroxychloroquine for the past week and a half because he’s heard good things about the drug. Colbert also noted that Dr. Rick Bright, who testified over the whistleblower complaint he filed against the Trump administration after he was fired, claimed he was pressured to support the drug for political reasons.

“Of course, that’s why anyone takes an experimental drug treatment,” Colbert said before playing a pseudo pharmaceutical ad for the drug, “If you think hydroxychloroquine might be right for you, don’t ask your doctor. Just ask around. And if you hear some good stories, eat it. Eat it, you coward.”

He addressed the “clap back” Trump received from Fox News Host Neil Cavuto, who warned, “If you are in a risky population here and you are taking this as a preventative treatment … it will kill you. I cannot stress that enough. This will kill you.“

“We heard a lot more from the president this weekend, but it was from the one we like,” he added later, referring to Obama’s commencement speeches this weekend. “The big headline out of Obama’s speeches, was when he took a thinly veiled swipe at Donald Trump.”

The host then played a clip of Obama bashing the current administration’s response to the coronavirus, without actually naming anyone in power.

“How dare you. For my stinging response, I will defer to the governors,” Colbert said mimicking Trump, before playing a real clip of the president calling Obama “grossly incompetent.”

Noah noted that Obama did not mention Trump’s name during his speech, but the president and his supports took offense anyway, pointing that out as evidence that Trump administration knows they’ve done a bad job.

“You know, it’s funny how Obama hides his insults, almost like he doesn’t want to get in trouble with Michelle for going low,” Noah joked.

“Isn’t it crazy how Obama never even had to mention Trump by name?” he noted. “Like, that’s how you know you’ve screwed up, when someone could just say, ‘People have no idea what they’re doing,’ and everyone is like, ‘That’s Trump. That is Trump.’ Even Trump is like ‘That’s me, totally me.’”

The host then played a mash-up of Fox News hosts and guests bashing the president’s commencement address for being too political. He specifically focused on Karl Rove, the former adviser to George W. Bush, for racistly calling Obama’s comments “a political drive-by-shooting”

Meyers also went after Trump supporters for knowing exactly who Obama was talking about during his commencement speech, and also bashed Rove for his comments on Fox News, calling him a “gross a**hole.”

“It’s both revealing and depressing that when Obama talks about grown-ups behaving like little children, we all know exactly who he’s talking about,” Meyers said after playing a clip of the former president’s speech.

“I mean, there’s no mystery. Even Trump knows. It’s not like his aides went to him and said, ‘Sir, he was talking about you,’ and Trump said, ‘Moi? But I was just sitting here drawing a new logo for the Space Force. Adult stuff, I think we can all agree, adult stuff.’”

Watch above, via Youtube.

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