# What do you think of Stephen Colbert's interviewing style? **URL:** \ **Category:** Cafe Society\ **Created:** [February 8, 2011, 7:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634 "2011-02-08T07:38:55Z")\ **Posts on this page:** 20\ **Page:** 2
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/21 "2011-02-08T18:45:44Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > The Colbert Report is a parody. > > p.s. The Simpsons is animated; they could not get real yellow people because of the cost. What? ---
**Author:** ![Nobody](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/n/94ad74/32.png) [@Nobody](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Nobody)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:50pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/22 "2011-02-08T18:50:43Z")
Anyway, I don’t remember Colbert’s interviews always being this way. Last night he had on Amy Chua, author of “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother” Googling, I found a video of the interview on the [Huffington Post](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2011/01/27/stephen-colbert-tiger-mother_n_814373.html) ETA: OK, re-watching it, it’s not quiet as bad as I remember. ---
**Author:** ![WarmNPrickly](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/w/d78d45/32.png) [@WarmNPrickly](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/WarmNPrickly)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 6:59pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/23 "2011-02-08T18:59:39Z")
I’m definitely in the camp that prefers Stephen’s interviews to Jon’s. There are exceptions, but Stephens interviews are way more entertaining. ---
**Author:** ![VinylTurnip](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/v/b2d939/32.png) [@VinylTurnip](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/VinylTurnip)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:01pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/24 "2011-02-08T19:01:08Z")
> [@sh1bu1](#): > > p.s. The Simpsons is animated; they could not get real yellow people because of the cost. Sure they could. They’re the ones doing the animation. ---
**Author:** ![zoog](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/z/7ea924/32.png) [@zoog](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/zoog)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:12pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/25 "2011-02-08T19:12:42Z")
I saw an interview with Colbert a few years ago, and he said that he basically apologizes to his guests ahead of time - says something like “You understand that I’m a professional idiot, right?”. I watch the show pretty regularly, and it seems like pretty much all of the guests are good sports about it. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 7:15pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/26 "2011-02-08T19:15:36Z")
> [@Nobody](#): > > Anyway, I don’t remember Colbert’s interviews always being this way. > > Last night he had on Amy Chua, author of “Battle Hymns of the Tiger Mother” Just pointing out here: the show is in reruns this week. These episodes aired last week, so you can see all of them (Offit, Chua, whoever else) at the show’s website. ---
**Author:** ![Kyla](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/k/eada6e/32.png) [@Kyla](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Kyla)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 10:45pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/27 "2011-02-08T22:45:32Z")
> [@kelly5078](#): > > I am continually amazed at how Colbert interrupts guests who might have interesting things to say, but fawns all over musicians. I always get the feeling that Colbert just really loves music and thinks musicians are awesome. Whereas he thinks politicians and media figures deserve mocking. I enjoy his interviews, even though they’re not really a good place to learn anything new. I like Jon Stewart’s interviews of writers and politicians, because he often asks biting questions that you’ll rarely hear from other interviewers. But his interviews with entertainment figures are just painful, and I never bother. ---
**Author:** ![Dewey\_Finn](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/dewey_finn/32/4222_2.png) [@Dewey\_Finn](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Dewey_Finn)\ **Post date:** [February 8, 2011, 11:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/28 "2011-02-08T23:23:23Z")
I liked the [interview/discussion](http://www.colbertnation.com/the-colbert-report-videos/367854/december-08-2010/steve-martin-pt--2) Colbert did with Steve Martin about art. He showed a painting of himself and then invited Andres Serrano and Shepard Fairey to alter it. (He also brought out Frank Stella, but he didn’t modify the painting at all.) He’s going to auction the painting in a few weeks for a charity. ---
**Author:** ![Sampiro](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/s/2acd7d/32.png) [@Sampiro](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Sampiro)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:18am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/29 "2011-02-09T00:18:07Z")
His interviews are by far my _least_ favorite part of his show and I often tune them out. I realize it’s a comedy sketch but it’s annoying when it’s a guest you’d actually like to hear a straight interview with. With Jon Stewart if the guest is a Nobel laureate who wrote a great book on the Middle East you’re going to hear some good questions on the Middle East, and with Colbert you’re going to get jokes on how they need the Jews and Muslims need to accept Jesus or whatever. I _love_ Colbert’s monologues and The Word segment and he’s got two or more of the biggest balls in politainment, but in general I’d be happy with them scrapping the interview segments. ALTHOUGH, exceptions to everything. His handing Laura Ingraham her ass during the [_Obama Diaries_ interview](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/colbert-slams-laura-ingra_n_670351.html) rivaled the _Daily Show_’s best and one of the few times when his faux persona served him greatly. If he’d called her a racist partisan hack outright it wouldn’t have worked as comedy or journalism but it worked beautifully as both, especially with his parry of the banshee comment. That is an exception though. ---
**Author:** ![What\_Exit](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/what_exit/32/10652_2.png) [@What\_Exit](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/What_Exit)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:01am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/30 "2011-02-09T01:01:41Z")
> [@Kyla](#): > > I like Jon Stewart’s interviews of writers and politicians, because he often asks biting questions that you’ll rarely hear from other interviewers. But his interviews with entertainment figures are just painful, and I never bother. This is nearly always true. I wish he would drop the entertainers at this point. His political, pundit, author and scientist interviews are usually great but most of the actors he interviews are duds. ---
**Author:** ![Cyberhwk](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/7993a0/32.png) [@Cyberhwk](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Cyberhwk)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:32am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/31 "2011-02-09T03:32:19Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > ALTHOUGH, exceptions to everything. His handing Laura Ingraham her ass during the [_Obama Diaries_ interview](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/colbert-slams-laura-ingra_n_670351.html) rivaled the _Daily Show_’s best and one of the few times when his faux persona served him greatly. That’s my favorite interview. You’re absoutely correct, his persona absolutely teed this interview up for him. Ingram states she doesn’t think Obama is dumb… [QUOTE=Stephen Colbert] …but this writing is TERRIBLE! [/QUOTE] Look on her face is, “Holy shit this is going to be a long interview.” 😃 ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:38am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/32 "2011-02-09T03:38:49Z")
> [@zoog](#): > > I saw an interview with Colbert a few years ago, and he said that he basically apologizes to his guests ahead of time - says something like “You understand that I’m a professional idiot, right?”. I watch the show pretty regularly, and it seems like pretty much all of the guests are good sports about it. Yeah, I saw a clip of him briefing Kerry before an interview where Colbert said something like “you know the deal, right? My character is an idot, so just enjoy the ride.” My favorite interview was one he did with a prof. who had written a book and Colbert couldn’t get her to say what the book was about, so he said, “I’ll just read the book, it will be quicker than getting an answer from you,” and then he started reading the book in front of her. ---
**Author:** ![Voyager](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/voyager/32/133_2.png) [@Voyager](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Voyager)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 7:47am UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/33 "2011-02-09T07:47:05Z")
> [@Sampiro](#): > > I _love_ Colbert’s monologues and The Word segment and he’s got two or more of the biggest balls in politainment, but in general I’d be happy with them scrapping the interview segments. ALTHOUGH, exceptions to everything. His handing Laura Ingraham her ass during the [_Obama Diaries_ interview](http://www.huffingtonpost.com/2010/08/04/colbert-slams-laura-ingra_n_670351.html) rivaled the _Daily Show_’s best and one of the few times when his faux persona served him greatly. If he’d called her a racist partisan hack outright it wouldn’t have worked as comedy or journalism but it worked beautifully as both, especially with his parry of the banshee comment. That is an exception though. Yes. The ones that really work are the ones where the character agrees with the guest, and then just extends the guest’s ideas that one small step into obvious absurdity. The reason Neil deGrasse Tyson does so well is that he has learned how to outtalk Colbert. Not easy to do, but he gets the point across better than almost anyone. ---
**Author:** ![carlb](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/carlb/32/5930_2.png) [@carlb](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/carlb)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 12:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/34 "2011-02-09T12:23:54Z")
I go hot and cold on his interviews. I’ll watch the first 30-45 seconds, and I can usually get a feel for how the rest of it is going to go, and decide whether to watch or not. If the subject is smart, quick-witted, and “gets” the Colbert character, the interviews can be a lot of fun. Otherwise, they can be quite painful. I thought Brian Greene fared well recently. As mentioned above, Neil DeGrasse Tyson has figured out the rhythm of a Colbert interview and just rolls with it. Cory Booker holds his own, and Kevin Kline and Kevin Spacey have been great. I, too, prefer to watch Jon Stewart’s interviews, but I’ll watch Colbert’s if it looks like there will be some good back-and-forth. Or if I sense that there’s the potential for another Laura Ingraham (although I’m not sure he’s ever going to top that one). ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:23pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/35 "2011-02-09T13:23:12Z")
> [@madmonk28](#): > > Yeah, I saw a clip of him briefing Kerry before an interview where Colbert said something like “you know the deal, right? My character is an idot, so just enjoy the ride.” My favorite interview was one he did with a prof. who had written a book and Colbert couldn’t get her to say what the book was about, so he said, “I’ll just read the book, it will be quicker than getting an answer from you,” and then he started reading the book in front of her. I think that might have been Nell Irvin Painter. Her book was “The History of White People.” ---
**Author:** ![Captain\_Amazing](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/c/6de8d8/32.png) [@Captain\_Amazing](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Captain_Amazing)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 1:35pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/36 "2011-02-09T13:35:59Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > I think that might have been Nell Irvin Painter. Her book was “The History of White People.” Her interview is here: > **[Comedy Central Shows & Movies - Watch on Paramount+](https://www.paramountplus.com/brands/comedy-central/)** > > Watch the Comedy Central shows, including The Daily Show, Chappelle's Show, Strangers with Candy, RENO 911!, Drawn Together, and more. It’s. . .not a good interview. ---
**Author:** ![madmonk28](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/madmonk28/32/20811_2.png) [@madmonk28](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/madmonk28)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 3:40pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/37 "2011-02-09T15:40:35Z")
I can’t watch it because I’m in Afghanistan, but that is the interview. I disagree, it is awesome. I love watching how fast Colbert’s brain is working compared to people still trying to shift out of first gear. I also love when he is interviewing a liberal who knows Colbert is playing a character and the interviewee still gets upset. ---
**Author:** ![astorian](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/a/ad7895/32.png) [@astorian](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/astorian)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:13pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/38 "2011-02-09T16:13:20Z")
> [@Marley23](#): > > So you don’t try to win. You play along, get to make your case after a fashion and perhaps raise your profile, and people appreciate you being a good sport. It worked pretty well for Mike Huckabee. I don’t see the upsde for a conservative. I have little use for Jon Stewart, but at least a guest of his can argue his point with a REAL person. He may argue his position well and score points, he may do horribly and let Stewart mop the floor with him. Either way, it’s a fair fight. If Jon Stewart says something that’s totally wrong, you can call him on it, and he’ll be forced to defend himself. But Steven Col-BAIR is untouchable. Which means that liberal Steven Col-BURT can mock his guest, insult his guest, do whatever he damn well pleases, and the guest has to “be a good sport” and take it with a smile. I don’t see anything to be gained by playing Col-BURT’s chickenbleep games. ---
**Author:** ![Marley23](https://avatars.discourse-cdn.com/v4/letter/m/45deac/32.png) [@Marley23](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/Marley23)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 4:27pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/39 "2011-02-09T16:27:07Z")
> [@astorian](#): > > I don’t see the upsde for a conservative. I’m not sure what the measureable impact was for Huckabee, if there was one. But he did come off very well in his appearances on the show and Colbert did not attack him. In fact he asked to be Huckabee’s VP candidate. ---
**Author:** ![ZipperJJ](https://sea3.discourse-cdn.com/straightdope/user_avatar/boards.straightdope.com/zipperjj/32/211_2.png) [@ZipperJJ](https://boards.straightdope.com/u/ZipperJJ)\ **Post date:** [February 9, 2011, 6:11pm UTC](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634/40 "2011-02-09T18:11:55Z")
I’ll chime in as someone who watched both TDS and Colbert every night, and I don’t like either host’s interviewing style. I think they both interrupt too much. Yeah sure they are comedy shows but why have authors of interesting and thought-provoking books on if you’re just going to use them as a straight man? Seems like they are both bad interviewers and the “well, we’re just a comedy show” thing is wearing thin. If they want to just be a comedy show, only have actors and politicians on as guests, so you can mock them. That would be fine with me. [Previous page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634.md?page=1) [Next page](https://boards.straightdope.com/t/what-do-you-think-of-stephen-colberts-interviewing-style/570634.md?page=3)