Stephen Colbert is married just to rub it in our faces

In case you missed Stephen Colbert's appearance on Meet the Press yesterday, he managed to parody the hard hitting interview associated with Sunday morning talk shows while Tim Russert gamely tried hard to be a part of the joke.

The interview consisted of Russert repeatedly attempting to catch Colbert with a "gotcha" -- as in one instance where Russert pressed Colbert to justify the French pronunciation of his name by pulling out a Bert doll and asking if its okay that Bert pronounced the 't' in his name. Colbert responded, "That's his choice, you'll have to ask him. I dare you. Ask him. Right now." It generated one of many moments where Russert seemed to be asking himself why he agreed to the interview.

Russert cited several quotes from Colbert's new book, I Am America (And So Can You) and asked him to defend those statements, including comments about gay marriage:

Tim Russert: This is again from the Colbert bible, "The biggest threat," you say, "next to socialized medicine, the Dyson vacuum cleaner and the recumbent bicycle." That, to you, means it's a serious threat to our culture.

Stephen Colbert: Yes. It's -- it's...

Tim: Why?

Stephen: Marriage is the basic building block to society and if gay men get married, that threatens my marriage immediately because I only got married as a taunt toward gay men because they couldn't.

Tim: So it makes you feel insecure.

Stephen: I just don't know why else I got married, other than to rub it in gay people's faces.

Tim: Would you consider Sen. Larry Craig as a running mate?

Stephen: I would.

Tim: Have you had conversations with him?

Stephen: Define conversation.

Tim: Have you spoken to him?

Stephen: No.

Tim: Have you met with him? Have you been in the same room together?

Stephen: Yes... (points offscreen) sorry, my lawyer's telling me to say no more.

Tim: How did you express your interest in developing your relationship?

Stephen: Forcefully.

I'm starting to wonder if the baby carrots and Clive Owen are succeeding in turning Colbert gay.

Why Colbert is (sort of) running for president

Meanwhile, in a web-only segment, Russert spoke to an out-of-character Colbert. In talking about how The Colbert Report is put together, Stephen explained, "We show up exasperated or angry about something and we turn that into jokes."

While I've seen some talk about the anger and frustration with out current political system and the media that fueling the sharp-worded parody of The Colbert Report, I think that's the first time I've seen Stephen discuss it. Playing a "poorly-informed, high-status idiot" gives him a chance to point out the idiocy of anti-gay activists with an edge that's not available to comedians who speak their point of view directly.