John Oliver taps Weird Al Yankovic for 'don't nuke us, North Korea' song

John Oliver has a message for the citizens of North Korea: “When our president says words, he doesn’t necessarily mean what those words mean,” he said on Sunday’s Last Week Tonight. Since Oliver is under the impression that North Koreans are obsessed with accordions, he sought the help of Weird Al Yankovic to drive the message home through song.

“North Korea has clearly been on everyone’s mind this week, and I think you know why,” Oliver said.

Trump told reporters on Tuesday, “North Korea best not make any more threats to the United States. They will be met with fire and fury the likes of which this world has never seen.” He wrote on Twitter a few days later how “military solutions” are now “locked and loaded should North Korea act unwisely.” Then Trump suggested his initial warning “wasn’t tough enough.”

To help take the edge off, Yankovic belted into his mic, “Please don’t nuke us, North Korea. Right now we’re all a little tense. Believe me, we don’t hate you. Frankly, we don’t even think that much about you — no offense.”

Oliver screened news segment clips about North Korea’s missile capabilities and how they may have the technology to reach American soil by next year. However, he also explained “it can hard to trust any information about North Korea” because of the state-run propaganda and “shaky” reporting from Western journalists.

“Sometimes the truth about life in North Korea can be just as striking as the urban legends,” he said. “For instance, you might have seen claims online that every teacher in North Korea is obligated to play the accordion. We could not confirm that, although in trying to, we did discover that North Korea does love the accordion to a surprising extent.”

Therefore, he deferred his time to Yankovic.

Watch Oliver in the clip above and skip to the 24:25 mark for the polka performance.