Interview (Stephen Colbert and Congresswoman Eleanor Holmes)

[Jamie (K)]

In the US there is a comedian named Stephen Colbert who pretends to report on political news. Somehow he is able to get interviews with members of Congress, in which he twists them around in their own words, distorts their voting records, and generally makes fun of them. Some of the congressmen find it amusing and joke along, some of them find him frustrating, and sometimes you can't figure out what they're thinking. Here he is interviewing the congresswoman from Washington, DC, which is not a state, so its representative can't vote. Note the German word he uses toward the beginning of the clip.

http://onegoodmove.org/1gm/1gmarchive/2006/07/youre_not_an_am.html

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie, yes that interview is quite funny, I've seen Stephen Colbert in The Daily Show.

What do you think how much time and information he gives his interviewees to prepare for the interview? I mean, I can't imagine those interviews to be absolutely 'real' simple because most Americans probably Stephen Colbert and the way he is making fun of government officials.

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between two university students (2)

[Jamie (K)]

I don't think that these politicians have much time at all to prepare for those interviews, and that if they accept the invitation they are usually either very smart and witty, or stupid. You should see some of the looks of dull-witted surprise he gets from some of the politicians when he twists their words around, while others throw it right back at him and can be funnier than he is.

Notice that the senator made a big point of insulting him by calling him French. Saying someone is, acts, thinks or dresses like a French person can sometimes be very insulting in the US. In fact, in one American cartoon show, the villain is a little girl who dresses in a beret and insists on speaking bad French a lot.

[Torsten]

Hi Jamie,

Why is it insulting in the US to call a person French?

TOEFL listening discussions: A conversation between two university students who met on campus

[Jamie (K)]