VIDEO: Montclair's Stephen Colbert Pulls ‘Hunger Games’ Prank, Mocks Trump and RNC

You don’t need to be a Hunger Games fan to understand the metaphor that Stephen Colbert was trying to make.

A viral video featuring the host of The Late Show With Stephen Colbert was posted to YouTube a day prior to the Republican National Convention in Ohio. The video – which has garnered more than 500,000 views in less than 24 hours - shows Colbert crashing the stage dressed as “Hunger Games” host Caesar Flickerman before the convention’s kickoff on Monday.

Colbert - a Montclair resident - then takes the mic and announces that Republican Presidential candidate Donald Trump has “formed an alliance with Indiana Governor Mike Pence” in a tongue-in-cheek reference to the hit film franchise.

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Before a security guard escorts him away from the podium, Colbert says that it’s his honor to launch the “2016 Republican National Hungry for Power Games.”

“I’m not supposed to be up here,” Colbert admits to the security guard. “But neither is Trump.”

The satirical video was followed by a Tweet from Colbert in his flamboyant Flickerman costume, backstage and unplugging wires “at the power center of the RNC.”

Colbert was also seen walking the convention floor prior to the release of his “gate crashing video.”

On Monday, Colbert posted a teaser for his upcoming coverage of the RNC via The Late Show With Stephen Colbert Facebook page.

REPUBLICAN NATIONAL CONVENTION 2016

This year, 2,470 delegates (along with 2,302 alternate delegates) from around the nation will convene in Cleveland, Ohio to cast their votes at the Republican National Convention.

The RNC will occur between July 18-21, 2016, at the Quicken Loans Arena in Downtown Cleveland. This is the 41st RNC and the first in Cleveland since 1936.

• See related article: 2016 Republican National Convention in Cleveland: Everything You Need to Know
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Photos: Wikimedia Commons