Levitt had some advice last week for our friend Sudhir Venkatesh, who went on The Colbert Report to talk about his book, Gang Leader for a Day. Sudhir sure seemed to take the advice to heart, especially the smiling part. He did great, and Colbert was no slouch either. In case you missed it, here’s the clip, which might well be worth five minutes of your day. Also, Sudhir is scheduled to be on Larry King Live tonight.
Colbert Digs Venkatesh
TAGS: stephen colbert, Sudhir Venkatesh
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I just bought the book yesterday and have read about the first 60 pages. So far, it’s an excellent book.
Sudhir did a great job, though I think readers would have enjoyed hearing about his being held at gunpoint in a project stairwell.
I’m looking forward to reading the book.
Wow, Sudhir’s the first person I’ve seen leave Colbert speechless. That’s nothing to sneeze at, especially considering he’s a former U of C grad student.
Hands down best part was when he accused The Colbert of being a Hindu or a child molester.
Only someone as quick and hilarious as Colbert could spin that into hilarity and back on Sudhir. I don’t want to ruin it, just watch and enjoy.
Re: (4) – yf35, that wasn’t Sudhir, that was the other guest on the show. Sudhir was the second interview.
I’m a fairly regular watcher of Colbert and that was the least I can remember him talking during an interview. Quite impressive.
The key to being on the Colbert Report is to not take yourself seriously. The fact that people have such difficulty understanding that seems to have a freakonomics question buried in it…
Guest go on the show for free exposure, then Stephen Colbert makes fun of Bill O’Reily by asking ridiculous questions and then guests get flustered by the absurdity of the positions that Colbert takes in trying to make fun of O’Reily. Guests get into trouble when they fear losing an argument to a person purposely acting absurd.
Why is that? Why do otherwise intelligent people feel the need to defend themselves from absurd attacks?
The key is that Colbert was actually interested. Otherwise he would have made fun of the author. In this case, the entire situation is so audacious and interesting, he was sucked in.