I was watching an episode of Comedy Central’s The Colbert Report where Stephen interviewed author Norah Vincent and I have one request — can Stephen please stop interrupting his guests? I get the whole pomposity / cult of personality thing he’s doing in toying with the guests, but when his questions are…
“Wh… what did you learn most about men? Anything surprise you?”
“Wh… what did you… what did you learn? What surprised you most of all?”
“What did you expect to find out, what did you expect to find out, and what did you learn in reality?”
“But you did learn things that surprised you?”
That just smacks of poor interview skills. Yes, we heard the question, Stephen. Now let us hear the answer. Except he next undermines his own question by — instead of allowing her to answer — asking Vincent for a ‘man-shake’ (which sounds dirtier here than it did on the show).
So please, let your guests speak. You just might hear a bit of truthiness.