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As the host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert lampoons conservatives nightly. No surprise then that the Pew Research Center reports that his audience skews wildly liberal. But a video mocking left-leaning Occupy Wall Street protesters that aired on his show Halloween night is turning more conservatives into fans, judging from their online reaction.
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In the video, Colbert, dressed as Che Guevara in order to “blend in,” hits New York’s Zuccotti Park to earn the trust of protesters and interview some of them.
PHOTOS: The Scene at Occupy Wall Street
Before a rainstorm (which he blames on Wall Street) encourages Colbert to climb back into his limo, he snags a couple of “young idealists” – one who’s named Ketchup — to interview back at his penthouse.
The protesters show Colbert their OWS hand signals and explain why they are not exactly male and female but a “female-bodied person” and “male-bodied person.”
They claim not to speak for the movement, even though their fellow protesters chose them for the interview.
“Why am I talking to you two?” Colbert asks. (Video below).
PHOTOS: The Scene at Occupy Los Angeles
“They came to consensus within the press group that we would be two people who would be good to talk to,” says Ketchup. “But we’re just here as autonomous individuals.”
The two protesters are articulate enough, though Colbert makes them look foolish simply by reacting to their hard-left assertions. He also teases that there’s a Part 2 of the interview.
Some of the conservative websites that are highlighting the segment include Fox Nation, Free Republic and Glenn Beck’s The Blaze.
“I haven’t liked Colbert much in skits I’ve seen him in, but he handled this in a pretty humorous way,” one commenter at the Blaze wrote.
“The truly funniest part is that there was a consensus that decided that these two would best represent the OWS view on national TV,” wrote another.
PHOTOS: 10 Entertainers Democrats and Republicans Love to Hate
“I don’t usually like Colbert, but that was funny. He really did make them look stupid,” a commenter at Fox Nation wrote.
Colbert has been all over OWS in the past few weeks, sometimes with segments that belittle the movement and sometimes with segments that belittle those who are critical of OWS. And sometimes he does both simultaneously, like when he mocked protesters for touting their “one demand” over and over though without knowing yet what their one demand would be. That same segment featured Colbert, in character as a stereotypical conservative talk-show host, criticizing liberal protesters for being “drug-addled commune dwellers” then cutting to video of normal-looking, eloquent college kids.
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