Laura Benanti returned to The Late Show with Stephen Colbert Tuesday to do her Melania Trump impression, this time playing the former first lady as she crashes the Democratic National Convention to “uncover the secret behind the Kamala-nomenon.”
“I have so much hot goss Stephen,” Benanti told Colbert as Melania. “Did you know the Democrats are casting a magical spell to turn the first lady into a man?” Colbert then explained that that’s not what's happening—if Kamala Harris becomes president, her husband Doug Emhoff would be the country’s first gentleman. She replied, “Why does she get to have a husband who’s a gentleman?”
Benanti was a recurring visitor to the show pre-2021, when she’d often do her Melania impression. She’s returned sporadically to bring her hilarious portrayal back to Colbert—and this time, her accent, pouty lips, and one-liners still hit the spot for the audience, which laughed uproariously throughout her appearance. Comparing Harris’ hubby to her own, Benanti’s Melania said, “She gets Doug Emhoff, I get that jagoff.”
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Colbert then asked her thoughts on Trump’s running mate, JD Vance. “Oh, Stephen, I have always been in favor of him getting a new mate,” she said, soliciting a high-five from Colbert. “I think he brings some strong positions on conservative issues—and some freaky positions on his sofaaaa,” she joked before acting out several sexually suggestive moves. The Vance couch story has been debunked, Colbert then points out, as the social media user who started it admitted it wasn’t true—but the Melania parody simply replied, “I’m a Trump, we don’t really do ‘true.’”
Though the “hot goss” she’d collected hadn’t turned up much, Benanti said in character, she’s still enjoying Chicago for the DNC. “It’s wonderful—the food here is so rich I could marry it,” she said, but “the only thing I don’t like is that big silver monument built for my husband,” she said. And she didn't mean the Trump Hotel.
“I’m talking about the bean,” she continued. “Whoever did that sculpture has definitely seen his a-- in shorts!”
For more, listen to Laura Benanti on The Last Laugh podcast.
