As a professional comedian until three years ago, Volodymyr Zelenskyy knows to tailor his material for different audiences. As president of a nation at war, he’s deployed that skill to great effect on a virtual world tour, inspiring and shaming in equal measure.

Beamed onto giant screens in the National Diet of Japan and later France’s National Assembly on Wednesday, Zelenskyy invited legislators to connect with Ukraine’s plight by playing to their own history and self-image, just as he has now done at least ten times since Russia invaded Ukraine exactly a month ago.

For most leaders, to address the chamber of another democracy is an honor granted once in a political lifetime, if at all. Zelenskyy drew standing ovations even in Berlin, despite his sharp criticisms, recalling Germany’s World War II guilt as he asked the Bundestag to stop putting business interests over Ukrainian lives so as not to again "have to feel ashamed one day.”