Better Know A District - Reactions of Interviewees

Reactions of Interviewees

Although the interviews intentionally show most of the Representatives in an unflattering light, the Representatives' post-interview reactions have varied. Colbert's interview with Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank resulted in Frank lambasting the program (he was quoted on a later Report), while the interview with Virginia Representative Jim Moran pleased the Congressman — he told the New York Times that he thought Colbert "let (him) off kind of light."

California Representative Brad Sherman appeared to be in on the joke. He claimed not to know that his San Fernando Valley district was home to the pornography industry, gave an apparently long and dull explanation of a tax proposal, and participated in the making of a "pornographic video" with Colbert and impersonated a robot.

The Washington Times published a story on the show stating that "several lawmakers said doing the spoof spot on 'The Colbert Report' on TV's Comedy Central actually has raised their profiles back home"; however, the Los Angeles Times has reported that due to the fact that many House members have "stumbled badly" during this segment, others are not risking "the price for looking stupid" and are passing up the opportunity to be on Colbert's Better Know A District.

On his November 7, 2006 show, Colbert lauded the fact that every one of the 28 actual congressmen whom he had interviewed by that point won election or reelection, which he claims to have been because they were given the "Colbert Bump".

Because of the way Colbert intentionally tries to skewer congressmen in his interviews, former Democratic Caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel advised his fellow Democrats not to appear on the show, causing Colbert to make fun of Emanuel's advice on the show. However, Colbert now rarely features Better Know a District as a regular segment, suggesting many in Congress took Emanuel's advice. In January 2009, Colbert received what he claimed was a letter from U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and said he was cleared to begin interviewing congressmen once again. However he began the 2009 season of Better Know A District by interviewing Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz instead of a Democratic congressman.

Following the 2010 congressional election on November 2, 2010, for the first time since the show began congressmen who appeared on the Colbert Report's the Better Know a District segment were not reelected in a general election. On November 3, 2010, Colbert ran a segment showing clips of those fallen friends called "We Hardly Better Knew Ye".