In the News

By Jessica Vanegeren

Congressman Mark Pocan appeared on "The Colbert Report" Monday, and was asked to blow out 100 candles to signify his first 100 days in office. There wasn’t much back-and-forth banter between freshman Congressman Mark Pocan and comedian Stephen Colbert on Monday’s “The Colbert Report.”

Yet while Pocan often lacked quick, witty answers in response to Colbert’s questions, that’s not to say the exchange wasn’t funny. Colbert initially misprounced Pocan’s name (poke-in), then asked if he could call Pocan "Pokie." He then asked him to blow out 100 candles on a cupcake to commemorate his first 100 days in office and cracked a joke about Pocan’s husband, Phil Frank, looking a tad younger than the 48-year-old congressman.

“How nice your young nephew could be there with you,” Colbert said while holding a picture from the day Pocan was sworn into office. The six-minute interview touched on cheese curds, bear wrestling (it used to be legal until Pocan helped ban it in the 1990s) and same-sex marriage.

“I assume you support the federal recognition of gay marriage … until your husband forgets to take out the garbage,” Colbert said. “Am I right?”

Highlighting Wisconsin congressional districts has been a Colbert favorite as of late. He sparred with Congresswoman Gwen Moore for his 70th installment of “Better Know a District” in March. Pocan’s district was the show’s 71st installment. Prior to introducing Pocan, Colbert pointed out some well-known favorites for those of us who reside in the state’s 2nd Congressional District.

He described Madison as “famously one of the most liberal cities in America,” trailing only San Francisco, Austin, and "Meat-is-Murder, Ore." The 2nd District is also where the Ringling Brothers created the “Greatest Show on Earth” … "according to people who have never left Wisconsin," Colbert told the audience.

The district also includes a portion of the Wisconsin Dells, home to Noah’s Ark, officially the largest water park in America and “unofficially America’s largest open-air Porta-Potty.”

As for Madison’s well-established Dane County Farmers' Market? Well, that was just another opportunity for Colbert to make another gay joke, this time at the expense of cheese. “Cheese curds — no offense — is the gayest cheese,” Colbert said. “They squeak when you bite them, just like gay people do.”

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