News of Donald Trump’s heated phone conversation with Malcolm Turnbull over the preexisting agreement to resettle refugees from Australian offshore detention centres provided US late-night talk show hosts with plenty of material over the weekend.
Stephen Colbert, Seth Meyers, Trevor Noah, Jimmy Kimmel and Bill Maher all found time during recent episodes to comment on the conversation between the two leaders, which Trump reportedly described as his “worst call” yet.
Colbert pleaded with Trump to not “pick a fight with Australia” as “they’ll cut off our supply of uggs, koala jerky and Hugh Jackman.”
Another segment on The Late Show with Stephen Colbert featured an animated sketch in which Trump mistakingly calls an Outback Steakhouse instead of the Australian leader. Before realising his gaffe the cartoon Trump has time to throw such insults as “vegemite is garbage” and “ACDC is overrated”.
Kimmel seemed perplexed as he asked his audience “who the hell would have thought we’d have a problem with Australia?” before joking “from now on the only Australian leader President Trump will deal with is Miss Australia”.
Meyers likewise asked, “how antisocial do you have to be to not get along with Australia?” Meyers defended Australians as the “most laid-back people on earth”, before adding, “but of course Trump knows they’ve got some bad didgeridudes”.
The Daily Show with Trevor Noah featured a mocked audio recording of the phone conversation in which Trump tells Turnbull he’s “cancelling that dumb agreement” because “we don’t need your Boston bombers, your Mad Maxes or those big beer cans that make my perfectly normal hands look small”.
Maher sarcastically commented that “finally a president has shown the balls to stand up to our arch-enemy – Australia.” The host of Real Time with Bill Maher then joked that Trump’s last words before hanging up on the phone call were: “We’re building a wallaby and you’re going to pay for it.”
