Bryan Cranston getting people to adopt adorable orphan puppies is obviously important viewing

The 45^th President of the United States is quite happy to deal in alternative facts, so why should Bryan Cranston worry about slightly tweaking the backstory of a preposterously cute puppy?

Stephen Colbert welcomed the Breaking Bad star to The Late Show this week, and it wasn’t long before his persuasive skills were put to the test.

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In a similar segment on a previous show Colbert managed to re-home six rescue puppies – all thanks to some exceptional lies – so giving it another shot with a Hollywood A-lister was a no-brainer.

And was Bryan Cranston ever going to struggle with flogging a few pups on the telly? Was he heck. Whether it’s Sterling the Shepherd/Terrier mix (and reformed party animal), or Norwegian wishing dog Poppy, previously owned by Broadway superstar Lin-Manuel Miranda, don’t you know – you are almost definitely going to want to jump on the next plane to New York and demand the adoption paperwork for all of them.

Matt Tate is a freelance journalist and contributor at for Shortlist. Formerly Stuff Magazine’s news editor and based in the UK, he’s been writing about consumer tech for around eight years, with a particular focus on gaming.

For his sins, Matt is a huge Tottenham Hotspur fan and unfortunately spends a lot of his time scanning his published work for Spurs-related digs that may have been slyly inserted by editors. Otherwise, he’s often buying Lego sets he can no longer accommodate and trying to perfect his carbonara recipe. He can be found tweeting (mostly about football and video games) at @MattWTate.