Stephen Colbert Time Travels Back to 1990s to Find Old Bill and Hillary Clinton Jokes

It turns out Bill and Hillary Clinton jokes from the 90s are still more relevant than you might think.

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Complex Original

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On Tuesday night, 15 years after his own presidency ended, Bill Clinton gave the keynote speech at the Democratic National Convention after his wife made history by becoming the first female presidential candidate for a major party. 

With the former president making a case for another Clinton in the White House, it feels like the political cycle has come full circle, so on The Late Show, Stephen Colbert thought he would take the opportunity to reuse some old jokes. He decided to travel back in time by sticking one finger in a bottle of Zima—a "malternative"​ beverage that was popular in the 1990s before it was discontinued in 2008—and the other in a light socket in an effort to consult his former self. 

When he arrived in the '90s, Colbert finds a flannel-wearing Colbert playing Mario on his Game Boy while singing a Pearl Jam song (naturally). The walls in the apartment were covered in posters of MC Hammer, Saved by the Bell, Clueless, and Van Halen, and he told modern-day Colbert to "talk to the hand." Although Hillary's nomination comes as no surprise to '90s Colbert,  he says there's no way his jokes about the Clintons could work in modern times, and tests one out.

"How are Clinton scandals like Pokémon?" he asks. "You'll never catch them all."

With the viral popularity of Pokémon Go reviving the old-school game and Benghazi and emailgate controversies overtaking Whitewater and Monica Lewinsky as pressing Clinton scandals, it seems not much has changed at all since Bill's time in office and Colbert's goatee. At least we aren't still drinking Zima. 

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