The Washingtonian has a cute interview with András Simonyi, who you might remember from his eagle-guitar playing stint on ‘The Colbert Report’ (or from the time he stopped by to grand Colbert Hungarian citizenship and give Colbert a wicked cool jacket).
He’s at the Embassy… or the 9:30 Club
By Garrett M. GraffHungarian ambassador András Simonyi doesn’t fit the diplomat stereotype. When he arrived here in 2002, he helped start a rock band that includes Jeff “Skunk” Baxter, formerly of Steely Dan and the Doobie Brothers; C.J. Vanston, who was Joe Cocker’s producer; and US ambassador to Korea Alexander Vershbow. The band has played at DC’s 9:30 Club, Walter Reed Army Medical Center, and Cleveland’s House of Blues. His guitar playing landed him a skit on Comedy Central’s show ‘The Colbert Report’ this spring.
But Simonyi’s no diplomacy lightweight. Born in Budapest in 1952, he speaks six languages, and before he became ambassador he spent most of the 1990s as Hungary’s first permanent representative to NATO.
Where’s your favorite spot in Washington?By an old lamppost on the shore of the Potomac in Georgetown where I gaze at the river after the walk I take almost every morning.
Favorite pastime?
Playing my guitar with the terrific Coalition of the Willing rock band.
Favorite television show?
‘The Colbert Report’, the ultimate mirror to America. It forces me to keep up with what is happening in this country. Otherwise I would not understand what on earth he is talking about.
That guy rocks. :D
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“‘The Colbert Report’, the ultimate mirror to America. It forces me to keep up with what is happening in this country. Otherwise I would not understand what on earth he is talking about.”
That is the best summing-up of the reason I find the show so appealing (excepting Stephen’s own greatness, of course) that I have ever read. That guy does rock harder than a rock rocks!
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