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Colbert, Anderson and Janney open Emmys with song and dance number

By Karen Butler
Host Stephen Colbert appears onstage at the 69th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI
1 of 5 | Host Stephen Colbert appears onstage at the 69th annual Primetime Emmy Awards on Sunday. Photo by Jim Ruymen/UPI | License Photo

Sept. 17 (UPI) -- Host Stephen Colbert kicked off the 69th annual Emmy Awards in Los Angeles Sunday night with a politically charged song and dance number.

Assisting him for the beginning of the pre-taped segment were black-ish star Anthony Anderson and Mom actress Allison Janney.

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The three lamented in Colbert's dressing room about how natural disasters and political division are now rocking the United States, but Colbert urged his fellow celebrities to, "Look on the bright side," and sang, "The world's a little better on TV," thanks to a golden age of small-screen programming.

He then took his act through a studio lot packed with dancers, crew members, a camel and a zombie.

Colbert also became animated to fit in with the background of the adult cartoon Archer and visited This is Us cast members Chrissy Metz, Sterling K. Brown and Justin Hartley, who were sitting on a sofa.

He danced with Millie Bobby Brown of Stranger Things and interrupted Veep star Julia Louis-Dreyfus as she conducted a press conference.

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Colbert even popped up in the backseat of a car driven by The Americans actor Matthew Rhys with his co-star Keri Russell riding shotgun.

He wrapped up the bit on the Microsoft Theatre stage with a chorus line of dancers dressed in the signature red cloaks and white bonnets worn in The Handmaid's Tale.

Throughout the song, he made jokes about U.S. President Donald Trump, Russian President Vladimir Putin, the media, and the battles over climate change and health insurance.

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