She Watch Channel Zero?!

Apparently, it isn't easy to sit back and let Stephen Colbert make jokes. After four and a half years, everyone understands the fake-republican slant of the show. The best guests, in the segment I often skip, simply play along with Colbert.

Successfully trading jokes with him is next to impossible, a move that almost doesn't seem worth the likely embarrassment. By those relatively low standards of simply answering the questions, Ohio University Professor Kevin Mattson did a fine job on The Colbert Report tonight.

Mattson was promoting his book, "What the Heck are You Up to Mr. President?: Jimmy Carter, America's "Malaise," and the Speech that Should Have Changed the Country." As is a trend on the show, Colbert made fun of the ridiculously long title right off the bat.

There wasn't much of note from the interview. Mattson discussed the comparisons made between Ronald Reagan and Jimmy Carter, leading Colbert into a "Reagan Good, Carter Bad" chant. It was an interview with an academic who was very knowledgeable on a certain moment in history, something that, in hindsight, was only notable because we are part of the same school.

Still, it went well. Colbert ended the interview by asking Mattson if Carter were the "worst" president or "worstest" president. Instead of trying to come up with a strong joke in two seconds with a million people watching, Mattson took the pass and declined comment. On a show where it seems like the guest could always say something embarrassing, sometimes nothing at all is a victory in itself.

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Kevin Mattson's Blog