Stephen Colbert puzzles over Trump's rooftop press conference

"Sir, why are you on the roof?"
 By 
Shannon Connellan
 on 
Stephen Colbert presents "The Late Show."
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Press conferences can happen in a great number of locations, but the White House roof is a bit of a curveball. President Donald Trump appeared atop the West Wing on Tuesday, reportedly surveying building projects. Reporters found out, and gathered to ask the president reasonable questions like, "Sir, why are you on the roof?"

"That's not a question you hear asked for a world leader that often," said The Late Show's Stephen Colbert during his Tuesday night monologue. "It's right up there with 'Your Majesty, where are your pants?'"

Colbert unpacked the president's attempts to communicate from the roof through hand signals and his "very normal un-miked roof shouting," with reporters responding, "What does that mean?"

"Yeah, what does that mean?" asked Colbert, from an extremely wide camera angle as if yelling up to a roof. "What does any of this mean? How are you the guy in charge? Why do we have to pretend? Why do we have to pretend it's normal when an old man wanders around a roof and shouts at us?"

A photo portrait of a journalist with blonde hair and a band t-shirt.
Shannon Connellan
UK Editor

Shannon Connellan is Mashable's UK Editor based in London, formerly Mashable's Australia Editor, but emotionally, she lives in the Creel House. A Tomatometer-approved critic, Shannon writes about entertainment, tech, social good, science, culture, and Australian horror.


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