Jim Carrey made his debut on Stephen Colbert‘s The Late Show on Wednesday night with quite possibly the show’s grandest entrance to date.
The comedy legend quite literally paraded his way into New York City’s Ed Sullivan Theater along with a second-line band, which he called the “Stephen Colbert Second Punchline Dancers.”
Accompanied by the Late Show house band Stay Human and its frontman Jon Batiste, Carrey, 58, danced his way through the audience with a purple umbrella in hand as he threw golden, sparkling confetti into the crowd and thrust his way back to Colbert.
Before the TV host was able to ask the Sonic the Hedgehog star his first question, Carrey began praising Colbert for his efforts to keep viewers politically informed.
“It’s so wonderful to be here finally. I love you so much, and you’ve done such an incredible job,” Carrey said, gripping Colbert’s shoulder. “Your heart and your head are so beautifully involved with all that’s going on, and I respect it and I appreciate it. It’s important to me that I say that.”
“That means the world to me to hear from you,” Colbert responded, joking: “Thank you so much — that is beyond anything we rehearsed.”
Colbert then asked Carrey about his feelings on the current state of the world.
“How do you feel when you see the world right now?” Colbert asked. “I feel dread sometimes and then I come out here and I feel better with these people to share.”
Looking to the Late Show audience, Carrey responded: “I think this is the thing that provides the balance, isn’t it?”
Though he never explicitly named names, the actor shared with Colbert exactly how he feels about U.S. President Donald Trump and his current administration.
The comedian’s remark garnered a roar of laughter from not only the studio audience but Colbert, too.
“We don’t have to pull the covers over our head and breathe deeply the ambrosia of evil,” Carrey continued. “I think we can come here and have a good time.”
Carrey also referenced Thalia and Melpomene, the ancient Greek muses of comedy and tragedy.
“There can be no light without the darkness,” the actor said, using the voice of Dr. Robotnik, the character he plays in the upcoming Sonic the Hedgehog film.
“Don’t you understand? That’s the whole message tonight.”
Colbert then pulled out copies of some of Carrey’s infamous political paintings, including his monster-like take on Rudy Giuliani — the former mayor of New York City and one of Trump’s attorneys — which he calls “Ghouliani.”
Throughout 2019, Carrey created and shared politically themed paintings on his Twitter account. His artwork has often featured caricatures of Trump.
Colbert added: “Everything that Trump touches dies.”
“Exactly,” Carrey replied. “Absolutely. He’s radioactive, let’s just face it — so I put that energy field around Ghouliani.”
“How long have you been doing hyper-realistic portraiture like this?” joked Colbert. His quip was met with a grin from Carrey.
“The caption also is: ‘Eek, said the spider,'” Carrey said. “Yeah, terrifying to insects.”
The two comedians later shared a plate of mangoes — a fruit the Canadian-born comic has recently opted to paint instead of political caricatures.
“In light of the darkness, what have you found?” Colbert asked. “You’ve been searching for light in the world.”
“It’s mangoes right now,” responded Carrey, before revealing he brought boxes of mangoes for everybody in the audience.
Sonic the Hedgehog hits cinemas across North America next Friday, Feb. 14.
You can watch the film’s trailer in the video above.
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