While Stephen Colbert didn’t exactly go easy on The Daily Caller’s Neil Munro for an ill-timed question on Friday, the comedian didn’t go easy on President Barack Obama, who is well-known for his long pauses, either.
On his Comedy Central show “The Colbert Report” on Monday, Colbert explained the interruption seemed to have downplayed the actual announcement itself and deemed it “POTUS interruptus.”
“But folks the president announcing that he is using his executive power to unilaterally stop enforcing the law was small enchiladas compared to the big news burrito this weekend — that the president was interrupted during the announcement of his new policy,” Colbert said. “That guy there, that was conservative blogger Neil Munro. And this POTUS interruptus sparked a firestorm of liberals and conservatives alike.”
Colbert played footage of Munro’s explanation to Daily Caller colleague Nick Ballasy, in which he said he had no intention of interrupting Obama.
“Neil Munro didn’t knowingly interrupt the president, as he explained to a completely independent news organization — the one he works for,” Colbert said.
But that didn’t seem that implausible of an explanation from Colbert’s reaction when he was reminding viewers of Obama’s tendency to use long pauses when he speaks, including the 2012 State of the Union address.
“Hey, you got to admit it’s hard to know when Obama is going to end something,” Colbert said. “Folks, the president — the president’s pauses are so long it always seems like he’s wrapping up his speech. Remember the State of the Union?”
Colbert used that to lead into his attempt to play off of Obama’s reaction to Munro.
“So everybody — everybody just layoff this alleged reporter,” he continued. “Everyone, everyone who was there thought that speech was over, including me. Full disclosure, I am a member of the White House press corps. Well, technically the White House press corps reserves — one weekend a month. And last Friday I even mixed it up with the president.”
Colbert then spliced himself into footage of last week’s incident and reminded his audience that “it’s the right thing to do” was a catchphrase used by Wilford Brimley in Quaker Oatmeal TV commercials in the 1990s.