Colbert’s Show Drops Scathing Skit Skewering Tony Dokoupil and Bari Weiss Over China Trip Snafus

Stephen Colbert used one of his very last shows on CBS to skewer the network’s coverage of President Donald Trump’s trip to China.

In Thursday night’s cold open, the show mocked anchor Tony Dokoupil being forced to broadcast from neighboring Taiwan because CBS News failed to secure a press visa.

“While the rest of the TV news world was in China to cover the summit, CBS News was forced to send Tony Dokoupil to Taiwan after failing to get a Chinese visa in time for the president’s visit, causing some insiders to call it, ‘very sloppy,'” the narrator said.

The Late Show spliced in video of Dokoupil saying, “Right now I’m just about 100 miles off the coast of mainland China,” while fonting him, “Tony Accidentally in Taiwan.”

“But that’s not the only challenge that Tony faced,” the narrator continued.

The show played the CBS Evening News opening graphics, identifying Dokoupil as reporting “from the wrong China.”

The video then cut to a man trying desperately to remove a pumpkin that was stuck on his head.

“Good evening, we are live from Taiwan,” Dokoupil’s voiceover said as the man struggled blindly with the pumpkin.

“Tony, what’s that on your head?” the narrator asked as the voiceover answered, “Pumpkin!”

“Here comes the head of CBS News, Bari Weiss. She’s hitting his head with a tiny mallet,” the narrator said as a woman began pounding on the pumpkin head. “Tony, what’s happening there?” the narrator asked.

As the man continued to struggle, Dokoupil’s voiceover said, “The leaders of the world’s two great superpowers are convening tonight. On the surface, it might look like —”

The woman continued beating on the pumpkin, this time with a metal baseball bat, while the “Dokoupil” character said, “Pumpkin!” as he fell to the floor.

The cold open gave way to The Late Show’s opening graphics.

Last summer, CBS announced it was canceling The Late Show With Stephen Colbert due to “financial reasons.” However, critics claimed the host was cancelled for political reasons due to his continuous digs at Trump and CBS News’ new owner, Larry Ellison’s Paramount Skydance.

Colbert’s last show is scheduled for May 21.

Watch the clip above via The Late Show on CBS.

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