Host Kevin Spacey may be channeling Donald Trump on the current season of House of Cards, but he mostly steered clear of politics during his opening performance at this year’s Tony Awards.
So it was left to Stephen Colbert, presenting the award for Best Musical Revival, to stick it to our beleaguered president of the United States.
“It is my honor to be here presenting the Tony for Best Revival of a Musical,” Colbert said from the stage of Radio City Music Hall. “And it’s been a great year for revivals in general, especially that one they revived down in Washington D.C. It started off-Broadway in the ‘80s, way off-Broadway, over on 5th Avenue. Huge production values. A couple of problems. The main character is totally unbelievable, and the hair and makeup, yeesh.
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“This D.C. production is supposed to have a four-year run, but the reviews have not been kind,” he continued. “Could close early, we don’t know, best of luck to everyone involved.”
Before presenting the award to Hello, Dolly!, Colbert described fellow nominee Miss Saigon as “the only pageant whose locker room our president hasn’t walked in on.”
Spacey did manage to get off one joke about Hillary Clinton—while imitating former President Bill Clinton. “We’ve had some exciting young performers this year,” he said, noting that Dear Evan Hansen winner Ben Platt made Time magazine’s 100 most influential people list. “Ben, you know who you bumped off that list? My wife! Between you and me, you might be a better singer, but Hillary is much better at creating fake email accounts than you.”
