Stephen Colbert wasted no time in addressing President Donald Trump’s recent comments about the late-night host.
After Trump said he was a “no talent” host with “filthy” things to say in an interview with Time magazine, Colbert responded.
“The president of the United States has personally come after me and my show, and there’s only one thing to say: Hehehehe!”
As the crowd erupted into a “Stephen” chant, the host continued: “There’s a lot you don’t understand, but I never thought one of those things would be show business. Don’t you know I’ve been trying for a year to get you to say my name?”
Trump was “admirably restrained,” though, said Colbert, but “now you did it. I won.”
“You’re not wrong,” Colbert went on. “I do occasionally do use adult language, and I do it in public, not in the privacy of an Access Hollywood bus,” referencing the now infamous unearthed conversation between Trump and Billy Bush from 2005 in which Trump made lewd sexual comments.
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“There’s nothing funny about what he says,” Trump had said about Colbert. “And what he says is filthy. And you have kids watching. And it only builds up my base. It only helps me, people like him. The guy was dying. By the way they were going to take him off television, then he started attacking me and he started doing better. But his show was dying. I’ve done his show. … But when I did his show, which by the way was very highly rated. It was high highest rating. The highest rating he’s ever had.”
Colbert addressed Trump’s ratings claims, as well. “Making jokes about you has been good for ratings. It’s almost as if the majority of Americans didn’t want you to be president.”
Colbert offered a solution to end Trump’s complaints about his show: “If you really want to take me down, there’s an obvious way: resign. If you did that, what would I talk about then? Except your resignation, because that’d be fun.”
This article was originally published by The Hollywood Reporter.