Stephen Colbert Discusses His Interview Process And Famed Bush Roast In Out Of Character Reddit Interview

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by Jon Bershad | 1:06 am, December 1st, 2010

» 13 comments

The Stephen Colbert/Reddit mutual love affair continues today in the form of a series of candid (and out of character) responses the TV host gave to questions from the Internet community. When Redditors first started giving money to the charity DonorsChoose to spur Colbert into having a rally, Colbert responded by promising he’d give them an exclusive interview using questions from users if they reached a certain amount ($500,000). Well, the users more than met his number and so, today, Reddit admins posted his answers, charming and thoughtful responses to questions about his appearance at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Association Dinner, Jon Stewart’s interview with Rachel Maddow, and his own interview process.

Here are a few of the highlights from Reddit:

“#1 by Killfile
To this day I’m convinced that your appearance at the White House Correspondents’ Dinner was because the Bush Administration didn’t understand your show.
Did they? What happened behind the scenes there? Was it more ‘non-alcoholic beer in the Roosevelt Room’ or ‘Dick Cheney peppering your limo with bird-shot as you beat a hasty retreat?’
I was as surprised as the next guy that I was invited to roast the President and the press corps that spring.
Here’s how it works. The White House Press Association (or some name close to that) actually does the inviting, not the President or White House. The president of the press association that year was a man named, I believe, Mark Smith, I think from the AP. He invited me. When all was said and done, I wrote to thank him and said I hoped I hadn’t made trouble for him. He said there was zero fallout.
As for the backstage aspects of the night, the President has a nice, small gathering in a room near the banquet hall. The presidential seal is etched into the granite on the floor. A few news anchors, football greats, cabinet members and advisors (I remember Rove and Chertoff, there were others I think), Rich Dahm, Allison Silverman, my brothers and sisters and mom, my wife Evie, and the President and Mrs. Bush. Let me say that the President could not have been nicer, especially to my mother. I have some lovely pictures of her with him. The President and I had a brief conversation before we went on stage. There were in total maybe 60 people at the party, many of whom I should remember more about, but I was pretty focused on my job that night. There was no backstage event after the dinner, but several parties around town.
I had my family up to our room for a drink then hit a party, don’t remember which one. We all had a great time. but I had no sense of public reaction until Monday at work.
…
#6 by noncompliantcitizen
Do you sometimes wish you could not be in character for some interviews? Being in character, do you feel that it prevents some people from coming on the show?
Well these questions are really related. I’ll say that from my end of the interview, I often have a guest whose subject I happen to know a thing or two about, and I want to engage them intelligently, but I am an aggressively ignorant character. That is frustrating. Of course knowing their subject lets me make the dumbest possible characterizations of their position or idea. If you ever see me truly being vigorously dense with a guest, I probably know something of his or her subject. And as I said, yes, the character aspect may give some people pause.”

Another interesting aspect about the interviews is that Colbert explains that he never talks to anyone on the show without first explaining clearly that he will be doing a character unlike, say, Sacha Baron Cohen. We wonder if this has anything to do with his distaste for doing field reports in the early, Craig Kilborn days of The Daily Show, when those segments were more about tricking and then mocking ignorant or deluded people who thought it was a real news show. In an interview back in 2003, Colbert described how going on those shoots made him want to “take [his] soul off, put it on a wire hanger, and leave it in the closet before [he] got on the plane.”

Check out the rest of the responses to questions about his struggles before becoming successful and his stance on marijuana legalization (this is Reddit, of course) here.

George W. Bush, Jon Stewart, Rachel Maddow, Reddit, stephen colbert, The Colbert Report, The Daily Show

http://www.squidoo.com/lauriebethsgrotto Laurie Beth

This is a fantastic interview. Love him!
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johns/1681497708 Michael Johns

I see more misspellings and grammar errors on this site than any other. Where are the proof-readers?

Normally I don’t mention misspellings, but this one is in the headline!

It should say [Colbert's] famed ROAST, not ROST.

A rost is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southwestern part of the Moon.

A roast is an event in which an individual is subjected to a public presentation of comedic insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, etc.

I would love it if you guys would hire me to be a proof-reader. This remains my favorite blog site, but I hate it when it seems so bush league because of the many errors.
Some_Dude

It’s crazy how different the real Colbert is from the one he plays on TV. “Aggressively ignorant” makes me laugh when I consider who his inspiration is. So true.
Just4thefax

Fact: The Daily Show, when those segments were more about tricking and then mocking ignorant or deluded people who thought it was a real news show. Liberals watch this show what is he talking about?
Arthur (Not a Political Comic)

Michael Johns said:
I see more misspellings and grammar errors on this site than any other. Where are the proof-readers?

Normally I don’t mention misspellings, but this one is in the headline!

It should say [Colbert's] famed ROAST, not ROST.

A rost is a lunar impact crater that is located in the southwestern part of the Moon.

A roast is an event in which an individual is subjected to a public presentation of comedic insults, praise, outlandish true and untrue stories, etc.

I would love it if you guys would hire me to be a proof-reader. This remains my favorite blog site, but I hate it when it seems so bush league because of the many errors.

I know. I came to this page and was outraged that they didn’t talk about Colbert’s crater located on the southwestern part of the Moon. I really wanted to read more about that. Though the roast part was pretty interesting. But not nearly as interesting as lunar craters. I hope that we will get more of those in the future. Ann Coulter has one as well, I think.

(Not a slam at you, just something amusing that popped into my head when I read your post. Yes, I hate misspellings as well. They do give me a laugh though)

And what about the bush league because of so many errors comment? Figures liberal scum like you will go after Bush. He did a lot for this country, but you just focus on his little errors. It is a slap in his face to create a term for errors like bush league. But I guess it is to be expected from lib morons like you. Why didn’t you say Obama league? Oh, because you libs never criticize Obama. Makes me sick.

(Just being “aggressively ignorant.”)
http://www.facebook.com/people/Michael-Johns/1681497708 Michael Johns

Arthur (Not a Political Comic) said:
And what about the bush league because of so many errors comment? Figures liberal scum like you will go after Bush. He did a lot for this country, but you just focus on his little errors. It is a slap in his face to create a term for errors like bush league. But I guess it is to be expected from lib morons like you. Why didn’t you say Obama league? Oh, because you libs never criticize Obama. Makes me sick.

That last paragraph was a nice tribute to the subject of the above article, kudos!
http://sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/ GlennBeckReview

Arthur (Not a Political Comic) says:

“Figures liberal scum like you will go after Bush. He did a lot for this country, ….”

Still celebrating Bush’s war of choice with Iraq that will likely have us engaged with Middle East terrorists for centuries to come. Why is it that conservative scum like you embrace such an utter failure like Bush? Epic failure, and the historians recognize how bad Bush was.

(Retired) Lt. Clr. Wilkerson, a former member of the Bush Administration, considers it to have been the least competent of recent times, if not ever. Why do you love the failures of Bush?
Arthur (Not a Political Comic)

GlennBeckReview said:
Arthur (Not a Political Comic) says:

“Figures liberal scum like you will go after Bush. He did a lot for this country, ….”

Still celebrating Bush’s war of choice with Iraq that will likely have us engaged with Middle East terrorists for centuries to come. Why is it that conservative scum like you embrace such an utter failure like Bush? Epic failure, and the historians recognize how bad Bush was.

(Retired) Lt. Clr. Wilkerson, a former member of the Bush Administration, considers it to have been the least competent of recent times, if not ever. Why do you love the failures of Bush?

I’m hoping you did realize that was a joke, right? Please tell me you did. You seem so serious with your response.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

Just4thefax said:
Fact: The Daily Show, when those segments were more about tricking and then mocking ignorant or deluded people who thought it was a real news show. Liberals watch this show what is he talking about?

As I read the clip, he is talking about the show which was hosted by Craig Kilborne and not the one done by Jon Stewart. During the Kilborne era, TDS was closer to HBO’s old “Not Necessarily the News” and it wasn’t considered media criticism.
http://twitter.com/SailRabbits Magister

OK- Now that I’ve read the underlying links, Colbert wasn’t only talking about the difference between the pieces he’d file for the Kilborn-hosted vehicle, but it was the subject of that entire portion of the interview with him, Ed Helms and Mo Rocca discussing several differences. (Less travel – more green screen, a more coherent, essay-like approach to stories)
http://sharethisurlaboutglennbeck.com/ GlennBeckReview

Arthur (Not a Political Comic) says:
“I’m hoping you did realize that was a joke, right?”

Of course, telling political jokes is spelled right out in your commenting name. No. wait….oh shit. You’re not a political comic but you play one on MediaFight?
Arthur (Not a Political Comic)

GlennBeckReview said:
Arthur (Not a Political Comic) says:
“I’m hoping you did realize that was a joke, right?”

Of course, telling political jokes is spelled right out in your commenting name. No. wait….oh shit. You’re not a political comic but you play one on MediaFight?

Actually, the name is a slight against Gordon Blower. It’s a long story. But the thing is that I don’t tell political jokes on stage so I don’t want to be known as a political comment. Guess it loses something the further away I get from that. And the phrase at the end of the rant was (just being “aggressively ignorant”) was me making fun of the people who seriously comment like that on these sites.
LouF

This story is fundamentally and factually incorrect. Reddit was A VERY SMALL PART of a coalition that raised $500,000. Most of that money was raised on the backs of Facebook, Twitter, and Comedy Central. For you to say ” the users [of Reddit] more than met his number” is absolutely false. You should be ashamed of yourselves for publishing that without doing 5 minutes of research first. You really should remove the article.