Who started the bow tie thing? You or Tucker Carlson?
Umm- Charles Osgood from CBS Sunday Morning and I think it was Mr. Belvedere. Did he wear a bow tie? Probably not.
I think he wore an ascot or a normal tie of some sort.
Yeah. Tucker started the bowtie thing, but I was the first to wear a dickie.
How does it feel to be separated from The Daily Show and to be doing your own thing and still have major fan support?
Well, that feels great. It feels precarious, to be honest. You know it's hard to leave a show that is lavished, rightly so, with the accolades like that, but at the same time you want to try your own thing. So it's exhilarating when it's not feeling precarious.
You have had so much practice at interviewing people from The Daily Show. What would Mo Rocca ask Mo Rocca and how would Mo Rocca answer his question?
(long pause) I would probably ask-this is kind of boring-"What exactly would you like to be doing right now?" And I would answer, "I don't know."
I think that might be a cop out. If you really had to bite into yourself, what would you say?
In that case, I would ask, "Why do your pants not look quite right?" And I would say "I left earlier than I thought I would and I didn't realize that there was a stain and a hole inside of them."
I hear you are a huge fan of plants. What is your favorite shrub?
Actually, not the Rhododendron. You know I like coffee plants- I am half-Colombian.
All right. No cocaine though?
No no- not coca plants- coffee plants. I do NOT like fichus trees, they are way too '80s for me.
You have been immortalized by VH1 I Love The 80s, The Top 100 This and That...
It's only immortalization because they will never stop playing it.
Exactly, they have you on daily rotation now. What did you think you were signing up for?
It feels very claustrophobic, because I begin to feel that I am actually sitting in a small room in Viacom's basement, endlessly talking about 80's sitcoms.
Last Question. What is your favorite political jargon/phrase/buzzword?
Umm- (extremely long pause) s-t this is the kind of thing I should know. Probably, triangulation. Especially, because no one really knows how to use it correctly. It means using your own tools to fix "their" car.
Can you use it in a sentence?
Clinton achieved the ultimate in triangulation when he reformed welfare.
Get The Chronicle straight to your inbox
Signup for our weekly newsletter. Cancel at any time.