Michelle Obama Appears on 'The Colbert Report' to Tout Joining Forces Initiative (Video)

Comedy Central

"The first time you were on my show, you were not the First Lady; now, you are," Stephen Colbert told Michelle Obama at the outset of their interview last night. "That's called the Colbert Bump."

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From that moment on, however, the First Lady, bump-assisted or not, took control of The Colbert Report like few guests have before. Of course, it helped that she had an important message about military families, as well as the infrared sniper aim Secret Service on her side.

Obama was in studio to discuss Joining Forces on the one-year anniversary of its launch.

"Jill Biden and I started this initiative to make sure that this country, which is a grateful nation, that we make sure that we do whatever we can to honor the service of our veterans, our troops and their families," she told the host. Of course, faux-conservative that he is, Colbert noted that the initiative's website had a .gov address, which gave him some pause.

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"It makes it sound like Big Government. Is there any way we can help the troops in the private sector?" he asked.

"Absolutely. Our motto is everyone can do something. So this isn't big government," Obama answered, no doubt aware that, Colbert's sarcasm aside, federal involvement would give some people pause. "Government has a role to play, but it can't do everything."

It wasn't all serious, though. With the First Lady having made a highly publicized guest appearance on Nickelodeon's iCarly, Colbert wanted to know how the two shows stacked up, gravitas-wise.

"That's a tough one. iCarly is about 16 and she's real deep," Obama joked.

"I should add some random dancing to my show," Colbert suggested, which first drew Obama's response of  "We could try it," and then, massive applause from the crowd.

Sadly for those in studio, the First Lady and host decided to put the dance party off until next time.