I'm your host, Stephen Colbert.

As you know, we're now in month nine of the coronavirus locked down here in America.

Which is why I'm still not back in my theater and don't have an audience and have resorted to using old sitcom sound effects to make me feel less alone.

Thank you.

Sympathetic audience from designing women in 1987 You always make me feel like Delta Burke and I may not have a real audience for a while because coronavirus infections in this country are the highest they've ever been.

And because of that, there are still massive travel restrictions for Americans all around the globe.

For example, without a test, I am banned from entering the country of Chile.

I still can't go to my local chilies, and I am banned from eating chili.

That's not a covert related.

That's just in agreement I have with my co workers.

All of these travel restrictions got me thinking about my last big trip last year when I traveled down under than a bit over to the right for my special.

Siri's the newest Zealander.

I really wish I could be down there now because, as you may have heard, they have had one of the most successful pandemic responses in the world.

With a population of roughly five million people.

So far, New Zealand has had just 25 deaths and roughly 2000 cases.

Or is America calls it Ah, White House Christmas party.

Well, since I can't return to New Zealand in person tonight, I'm gonna return in my memory.

Unluckily, my memory comes with a lot of videotape.

You see, after last year's trip, there was just too much exciting footage to show it all.

In fact, there was so much extra material that earlier this year we began gathering new segments and recording behind the scenes features to put together a special.

But when the pandemic hit, we had to stop down and save all that stuff until the time was right, which is apparently never gonna arrive.

So we decided to do it.

Tonight we're revisiting those bygone times and celebrating New Zealand with a special episode.

I'm calling return to New Zealand, a magical land where hugs still happened.

Kiara New Zealand is so successfully contained transmissions that much of life there has all but returned to normal and they're even safely attending sporting events and crowded music festivals.

But this is still New Zealand, so those crowds were mostly sheep.

So how is New Zealand successfully contained the virus while other countries struggled Well, for starters, they have an advantage of being a small, remote island nation.

It's much easier to control entry when you're on Lee.

Border is the ocean, and transmission rates are evidently very low amongst giant squid.

But a lot of the success has come down to the New Zealanders themselves.

In fact, according to the medical journal Lancet, public health, the keys to New Zealand success have been decisive governance, effective communication and high population compliance.

So the US came close with just zero of those three things.

Much of the credit for decisive governance goes to New Zealand Prime minister and seashore detective.

Just send our turn.

Of course, I've long been a fan of Prime Minister Arden since she personally invited me to visit, picked me up at the airport, drove me around Auckland and then invited me to join her family and lord for a barbecue.

That's right.

I was greeted by the prime minister and the nation's biggest pop star.

Your move.

Justin Trudeau and Michael Bubbly.

So I was already impressed by the prime minister.

But my admiration one up a notch or two when I learned that she had handled the pandemic with a strategy that relies on science and empathy, both things our current president considers a hoax.

Early on in the pandemic, she closed New Zealand's borders to nearly all nonresidents and instituted a lock down so severe that even retrieving a lost ball from the neighbor's yard was banned.

That's how thorough their plan was.

It even included laws that only apply to Dennis the Menace.

Now, if you're thinking that America could learn something about dealing with the pandemic from New Zealand, you're not alone.

Last month, Prime Minister Artur and said she put President elect Biden in touch with New Zealand's health officials in order to share tactics of how to battle the pandemic.

Thanks for the help to send our Dern, we should team up McCall herself.

Joe Cinda or Bide earn.

There's something cooler like the go getters.

Come on, Jack Zenda to send our turn is so good at multitasking.

She actually gave birth to a daughter while she was in office and then.

And this is the shocking part.

She did not immediately make that child responsible for negotiating Middle East peace.

Recently, her handling of the pandemic lead our turn to an impressive landslide re election.

But even more impressive is that despite having to delay the election due to co vid and having a ballot referendum on euthanasia, New Zealand's election season was reportedly low key, not a horror show and even boring.

Oh, boring.

Doesn't that sound exciting?

Honestly, New Zealand sounds like a perfect place right now.

Not only is it safe and has compassionate, capable leaders there also filming a Lord of the Ring Siri's that might contain nudity.

Of course, Riel, Lord of the Rings.

Fans like me don't need to see these characters nude when they've already been imagining them that way since middle school.

Nice ass Smeagol.

But when I went to New Zealand, you'd think I was gonna say Smeagol, did you?

You thought I was gonna say Gandel or Aragorn or somebody easy?

When I went to New Zealand, there were times like I was stepping into the past, but I look at it now, and I'm hopeful that New Zealand might actually be our future, our normal, full contact future.

Here's a fun fact.

They're actually 18 hours ahead of us there, literally living in tomorrow.

And hopefully they're also living the life we here in America could be living five or six months from now.

Ah, magical life of civic cooperation for the common good.

Let's hope that we catch up to them on that one.

Very soon.

As for now, let us return to New Zealand through the magic of videotape Up first, you may remember that I bungee jumped off a bridge last October.

Tonight I want to show you the behind the scenes drama of my producers convincing me that I had to do that because New Zealanders invented bungee jumping and it was truly a life changing experience.

I'm sorry.

A pants changing experience, Jim.

My producers had it in their mind that it would be great for me to jump off a bridge with rubber bands tied to my ankles.

And I saw the appeal of that.

I understand that you want your star to eventually, um, jump off 140 m bridge down toward the gorge capture the fear on his face for the entertainment of of the of the American people on.

But I warned them that I probably wasn't gonna do it because I really don't like heights.

Okay, that's the bungee bridge.

That's ridiculous.

Okay, that's that kind of language isn't necessary.

E Just get this clutching feeling in my groin.

Not the good kind.

Just this terrible, cold, empty feeling inside my body When I think about heights So we land We got this beautiful vista from a distance to look at the bridge to see where I'm gonna you know, spend my last few moments on this planet.

Just cards on the table.

I'm not a huge fan of heights or drops.

Really, e m.

I'm scared.

Scared.

This is I This is not an act.

If you want to know what I'm like without the cameras on, that's what I'm like.

Very anxious.

Okay, let's go ahead.

Let's go.

Let's go, Go.

Let's take a look.

Don't stop rolling for any reason.

Please just ask you guys to never stop rolling to especially capture how much I didn't like it in my displeasure at having to do it Jake for your piece.

For the structure of this piece.

It would be good if I jumped off this bridge.

Right.

Big conclusion of this piece.

You and Paige, who have worked so hard on this trip and everybody else.

I'm not saying just the two of you, but would be great, like climax to this if I jumped off that bridge I've been I have been clear with you, though, how I feel about heights, right?

You've said you're very afraid of him, Have I Haven't pulled my punches at all like no.

Okay.

Thanks, Jake.

You're welcome to I was afraid I would do it, and I was afraid I wouldn't do it.

Then we wouldn't have an end to the peace.

You want to sign?

A mineral could get the way.

Okay, let's do that.

Okay, great.

Thank you.

Just get off the bridge.

So I came up with backup plan on the spot, which is to have somebody else do it.

I think you get two bites of the apple.

If somebody else jumps with, like my Felician or something, that looks like it's me.

Why don't we just dress somebody up in my outfit and that that that person jumps instead on we fake it and make it look like me and Chris Licht was right there.

And I want How about you?

What about you?

What's that?

What about you jumping?

I'll jump.

And he was totally ready to do it, so he did it.

That's how you run a show.

Folks gotta be willing to jump off a bridge.

Five, 43 21 Wow, that really looks like I jumped off a bridge.

Uh, so he did it.

So Chris jumped.

I said, how was it?

Lenny said not that bad.

And I said, Okay, just don't run, all right?

You can take a look.

Yeah.

Hey, Sam on dso they strapped me in.

They sit you down and they wrap your ankle with terry cloth towel.

I'm expecting some sort of Kevlar booty or something like that.

They're just taking, like, someone from targeting wrapping around your ankles.

I just wanna be clear in my safe word is pumpkin patch and I assume they know what they're doing.

One has to assume that they know what they're doing.

What else you gonna dio?

Alright, what happens next?

So I stood up I went to the gangplank.

Okay, It's the one.

And you're waiting till your toes or just beyond the edge.

And by there?

Yep.

Haley, Death on a bridge on my count down And they say 543 and on like 33 Guy put his hands on my back And I said, Don't push me Don't push me way edited that out Don't push me And then you lean forward to give a little little bunny hop forward and then straight down as you accelerated 32 ft per second per second, the J.

Edouard starts to rush and you close your eyes, right?

One.

The bungee starts to engage, and then you stretch down, you pop up.

And after that, well, it's, you know, everything's fine, You know, it worked, and you're not going to die.

Oh, my God.

Oh, my God.

I should have gone to law school.

Then they lower you into the raft.

And that's the best moment for me is when you're on the bottom of the rafting, you're untied because the sides of the raft of these two big yellow arms around you like they're hugging you and you know, as terrifying as it waas to contemplate once I did it.

E don't ever want to do it again.

Thanks, Stephen.

When we come back, I'll take you behind the scenes of my epic day spent filming a Lord of the Rings trailer with Peter Jackson.

Yeah.