How to survive an interview from Stephen Colbert

Slate magazine has penned a very interesting article about how to survive an interview on The Colbert Report:

The Colbert Retort
How to beat the host at his own game.
By Troy Patterson
Posted Thursday, Nov. 2, 2006, at 11:23 AM ET

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Act your age. Maybe they’re just being obliging, but many of Colbert’s guests tend to trip themselves up right out of the gate, before the host himself has even had a chance. They’re so tickled to be there that they titter, ducking their heads shyly and perhaps muttering something vaguely racy and clearly inane. Are they 12? Writers, in general, and New York Times op-ed columnists, in particular, seem especially susceptible to this affliction. After Colbert’s lead delivered a line about Ann Coulter’s speaking engagements, David Brooks blurted, “I do Phish concerts.” Whah? When a bellicose Colbert commanded Frank Rich to inveigh against President Bush (“What’s he done now?! Spin!!”), Rich grinningly produced the following: “Luckily, he isn’t doing much now. He just seems to be sort of lactating. … I don’t know where that came from.” Paul Krugman simply giggled, and simply giggling is inappropriate to the gravity of the occasion. No, you’ll be better off if you …

Laugh uproariously. Conservatives do well by taking this tack, and Bay Buchanan, chair of the Team America political action committee, was an ace. She was pushing her line on illegal immigration, arguing for a vast wall along the Mexican border, when Colbert upped the ante: “We need two walls. We need a moat. We need it filled with fire, maybe with some fireproof crocodiles in there.” I imagine that most of Colbert’s constituency thinks Buchanan to be kind of a creep, but there was an appealing jolliness in her laughing response to this line that made her seem agreeable, and her hard chuckles took the edge off his mockery. And when Colbert had had his fun, Buchanan charged right on ahead. Perhaps, being a veteran of the Reagan administration, she is inclined to …

Full Text of Article

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