‘The Daily Show’: Al Franken jokes that global warming has made baby boomers think they ‘got the last helicopter out of Saigon’ (video)

Al Franken used his trademark humor on The Daily Show on Tuesday to shed light on a starkly sobering global warming trend after the United Nations released a report saying the issue is more pressing than previously thought.

Franken, a former actor and screenwriter, star of Saturday Night Live and US Senator from Minnesota, called the situation “today’s story that makes all other stories meaningless.”

“According to the UN, we are all going to die,” Franken replied calmly.

The Daily Show then aired excerpts from newscasts of the report earlier Tuesday, CNN calling it a “terrible warning about the state of the planet” and ABC’s “Good Morning America” ​​breaking down the facts on the subject, including that “every country in the world must cut emissions at an incredible rate to try and curb the warming of our planet.”

“Wow, that’s terrible,” Franken replied on his second day as a guest host on the Comedy Central show. “But I guess hello to my baby boomers – it feels like we got the last helicopter from Saigon, doesn’t it. And that’s the link that we baby boomers understand.”

The joke, of course, refers to the final withdrawal of American troops from Vietnam in 1973 after a decade of war.

“Now part of the problem is that the UN is expecting collective action,” Franken said. “It is easy to cut our part when everyone has to contribute. So the solution here is to call people individually.

“The next UN report should not say, ‘We all need to reduce emissions. It should say, “Gary, stop driving so much. You don’t have to visit your wife’s grave every day. She doesn’t follow.”

Watch the full beat video below.