stephen colbert trolls congress on immigration

[rtil]

At least one lawmaker was not amused.

Comedian Stephen Colbert had barely seated himself at a House Judiciary subcommittee hearing this morning when US Representative John Conyers, Democrat of Michigan, asked him to leave. Conyers said the committee had not seen so many reporters at a hearing since presidential impeachment proceedings in the late 1990s, and he wanted Colbert to leave so that the committee could carry on with its work.

Colbert, however, did not budge, saying that he was present at the invitation of the hearing chair, US Representative Zoe Lofgren, Democrat of California. But Colbert said if Lofgren wanted him to leave, he would.

Lofgren said she wanted him to stay, and a good portion of Capitol Hill was glued to broadcasts of the hearing.

The hearing was about illegal immigrants and farm work. Colbert, host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, recently spent one day working on a farm.

Colbert, who got five minutes to share what he called his "vast knowledge" of farm labor, began by touching on the effect of his presence.

here is his testimony. it's kinda quiet so turn up the volume

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=hWcQEO1OG4Q
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=YsvclalwR7k

[Hnilmik]

Pretty dang good at staying in character and holding a straight face the whole time

[Ashington]

lmao that's fantastic, you wouldn't see that sort of thing happening in the house of commons over here.

[Casey Pixmintro]

heh

[shura]

lmao colbert is the best

[psi43]

lmfao holy shit that is more than just amazing

[salutations]

[dilly]

i love him  

[funzop]

lmao sal

[Fuzz]

I like it when comedians of his style actually get involved in politics. They seem to make more of a difference and get the word out to so many more people. It kind of reminds me of that Robin Williams movie.

[Kött]

Politics with irony... this actually demonstrates the actual problems and their roots much better to anyone than most politicians with their intricate statements ever could.
This should be done more often.

[99]

This reminds me of what we were talking about yesterday, how both him and John Stewart provide a huge service to the political landscape by both grabbing the public's attention through their bullshitting, and once engaging their audience, cutting through the bullshit themselves.  It's like they are the columnists of cable, delivering both facts and opinions while injecting their own presence or style that keeps their audience coming back to them again and again to see them cut the fat from the meat.  I'd say that both Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart are oftentimes more influential to the way the younger generation views politics that the politicians themselves.

[rtil]

he was serious near the end
http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nxeIO4pW05s

[MarcK]

awesome

[Sapphire]

Mm, you go honey child.

*z-snap*

[Hnilmik]

You could hear all the cameras going off the moment he broke character and was genuinely sincere, a little after 3:35.

It's a profound moment.

[DrRumack]

it seems like colbert definitely wasnt prepared for that last question. i could see in his movements that he was trying to think of a way to answer that in character but just couldn't.

its neat seeing him out of character though.

double f

[rtil]

i think he wanted to answer that sincerely

it\\\'s not the first time he\\\'s been out of character

[99]

[Mew_User]

Mm, you go honey child.

*z-snap*

I still love you, Sapphire.