I also love the ones where the guest totally doesn't get it and gets angry, though.

It boggles me that people would make a television appearence without at least getting an idea of the show is going to be like. I was kinda bummed when it turned out that Barney Frank just didn't get the joke for real (granted, that was a taped appearence rather than an in-studio one, but even so, a politician who's been under the media microscope for being out and then ending up in a scandal because of it should know better).

I think Colbert needs to go out on the street more, in full persona, and see how many people think he's for real and how many don't. He might get punched, though.

I loved Colbert's line about how, if George decided to run for office himself, he'd have to have one hell of a long bumper sticker.

He (and the show) are getting pretty famous, as I've seen a number of articles about the show. So in the future fewer people will not get the joke, methinks.

So in the future fewer people will not get the joke, methinks.

The Daily Show was always able to find rubes.

Their explanation was--people just want to be on TV, and TV makes people stupid.

I gotta say that those are my favorite interviews, where the guest thinks the Colbert persona is so funny that he cracks up Colbert himself.

Me too. I find the ones where the guest doesn't get it uncomfortable to watch -- it's much more fun when they realize they're meant to be arguing with a straw man.

The Daily Show was always able to find rubes.

Their explanation was--people just want to be on TV, and TV makes people stupid.

But I would think that the political types guesting on the Colbert Report would be more aware of pop-culture stuff like TDS and TCR.

He (and the show) are getting pretty famous, as I've seen a number of articles about the show. So in the future fewer people will not get the joke, methinks.

I certainly think the volume of guests that don't get is going to go down, though somehow Ali G managed to get away with it for longer than I would have expected. That's why I'd send him out on the street - even with the press, there are bound to still be a lot of non-media people who don't know because they don't read the press and don't follow Comedy Central at all.

Shouldn't it be against the rules to feel both apathetic and pathetic at the same time?

Stoopid Mondays Tuesdays.

But I would think that the political types guesting on the Colbert Report would be more aware of pop-culture stuff like TDS and TCR.

As was demonstrated in the past year, that's a HUGENORMOUS assumption.

I find the ones where the guest doesn't get it uncomfortable to watch

This is me, and it doesn't matter if they are someone I'd likely agree with politically or not, at least for the interview guests. Either way it makes a little uneasy.

I wouldn't have quite the same issue with folks on the street, for some reason, even though in some ways it's more unfair than making someone who agreed to be on the show look clueless - they bought their own ticket, so to speak, if they agreed to do the show (and usually have something they are trying to publicize).