Stephen Colbert on Capitol Hill: Not Everyone's Laughing

Not everyone was laughing after Stephen Colbert's appearance on Capitol Hill. It's not unusual for a celebrity to advocate for a favored cause before Congress, but doing it "in character" -- in effect, putting on a show -- is another matter altogether.

Yeah, Colbert was funny and certainly drew attention to a legitimate and long-standing issue -- the plight of migrant farm workers. But until he showed up Friday as the clueless, conservative TV commentator of the Colbert Report, the only example of a make-believe performance the Associated Press could find was Sesame Street's Elmo, a Muppet.

Judiciary Chairman John Conyers (D-Mich.), perhaps fearing a debacle, tried to kick Colbert out of the hearing room before he started, suggesting he just submit his script -- uh, testimony -- for the record. But Rep. Zoe Lofgren, who invited him in her role as chairwoman of the immigration and citizenship subcommittee, persuaded Conyers to let Colbert remain in the witness chair.

The problem at hand -- the fact that American growers need seasonal migrant labor, and many in that low-paid labor pool are Latino and in the country illegally -- is anything but trivial. Colbert's satiric appearance was aimed at provoking lawmakers to deal with the issue.

But the comedian's succession of tongue-in-cheek one-liners -- meant to sound as if he much preferred American-picked fruits and vegetables to the crops rooted up by immigrant labor ("The obvious answer is for all of us to stop eating fruits and vegetables") -- produced few chuckles among Republican members of the panel.

Rep. Steve King (R-Iowa) glowered. "Maybe we should spend less time watching Comedy Central and more time considering all the real jobs that are out there," said King.

Asked later about Colbert's appearance as a committee witness, House Speaker Nancy Pelosi said, "Of course, I think it is appropriate. He's an American, right? He comes before the committee, has a point of view, he can bring attention to an important issue like immigration."

The issue more narrowly -- the standing of migrant workers -- has been around at least since the Great Depression. It was chronicled by folk balladeer Woody Guthrie in gripping songs like Pastures of Plenty ("It's a might hard row that my poor hands has hoed.")

Congress could address immigration reform -- and a pathway to citizenship, or at least legal status for migrants -- in a lame duck session after the Nov. 2 election. But enactment of comprehensive reform this year is a long shot.

Arturo Rodriguez, president of the United Farm Workers, also addressed the subcommittee on Friday. "Most of the food on your table has been harvested and cared for by unauthorized workers," Rodriguez told the lawmakers. "U.S. Agriculture would need to hire 1 million citizens to replace immigrant laborers. Mass deportations of agriculture workers would cause the collapse of the agriculture industry as we know it."

Colbert, who picked vegetables at a farm in New York earlier in the week, turned serious near the close of his testimony. Right now, he said "migrant workers suffer and have no rights."