Stephen Colbert joins This Is Us, Stranger Things for epic Emmys opening 

Every unforgettable moment, every gorgeous dress.

The 69th annual Primetime Emmy Awards kicked off with host Stephen Colbert taking viewers on a musical journey — and himself through several nominated hit shows.

After physically making the trophies himself, Colbert was greeted by Anthony Anderson and Allison Janney, who bemoaned the state of the world (“Sea levels are rising, our leaders are fighting, I heard HBO is bringing back the confederacy,” sighed Janney, a reference to the controversial HBO series

, Colbert belted out a tongue-in-cheek musical number about how TV has never been better and can take away the audiences’ troubles, while getting in a few political barbs. The host got animated with

stars Sterling K. Brown, Justin Hartley, and Chrissy Metz, and dancing with

star Millie Bobby Brown (as well as the Demogorgon), passing through a press conference with

stars Tony Hale and Julia Louis-Dreyfus (who asked us to imagine what it would be like to have a president that wasn’t “beloved by Nazis”), and singing in the backseat with

‘ Keri Russell and Matthew Rhys while taking a jab at the Trump Russian investigation (“

has hotter spies than the Russian inquiry/Even treason’s better on TV.”)

The song also included a few call-to-social-action verses from Chance the Rapper, who, as it turns out, is a 

/In fact I’m addicted/But where’s the cop show where one gets convicted.”) And he reminded you that while that finale’s got you focused, record the show and “try to show up at the protest.”

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