Late-night talk shows are facing pressure from US President Donald Trump and the Federal Communications Commission, who accuse them of tilting left in their jokes and guests. But that did not stop Stephen Colbert from airing an interview with former President Barack Obama on the night of May 5 as Colbert’s cancelled CBS show heads toward its final episode in March.

Mr Obama used the interview to go after Mr Trump, but never mentioned him by name. He urged Democrats to avoid sounding like academics when talking to voters. And he talked about aliens.

Here are five notable moments from Colbert’s interview with Mr Obama, which was filmed in early April at Mr Obama’s soon-to-open presidential centre on the South Side of Chicago and aired on The Late Show With Stephen Colbert.

A White House spokesperson, Mr Davis Ingle, responded to the interview by issuing a statement insulting Mr Obama and Colbert, saying, “Only pathetic trainwrecks like Stephen Colbert would waste their time interviewing one of the worst presidents in history.”

Mr Trump did not come up by name in the interview, but Mr Obama made a series of not-so-subtle critiques of the current president and his administration. After Colbert jokingly raised the possibility of running for president, Mr Obama suggested it was not so ridiculous for the comic to run for the White House.

“The bar has changed,” Mr Obama said, holding back laughter. “Let me put it this way: I think that you could perform significantly better than some folks that we’ve seen. I have great confidence in that.”

Colbert asked, “Is that an endorsement?”

“It was not,” Mr Obama said.

At a moment when many Democrats are concerned that their party lacks leadership and is too divided to stand up effectively to the Trump administration, Mr Obama expressed confidence that most Democrats remained united on core principles.

“I’m not as worried about this so-called rift,” Mr Obama to...