TVSquad

Last night, Oliver Stone went on The Colbert Report to plug his new movie W, which examines the life and presidency of George W. Bush. Stone isn't exactly known as one of the most ardent supporters of the Republican Party, and I bet everyone expected Stephen Colbert to ratchet up his O'Reilly-esque character in order to "nail" Stone, as Colbert likes to say.

But, either on his on or in cahoots with the producers, Stone decided to go in the other direction. "I really started to like him, and I think he's a great man," Stone said. "He is on his way to being a great president." His entire interview consisted of deadpan praises of Bush and his handling of everything in his administration. He also suggested that we suspend the election (a la McCain suspending his campaign) so Bush can stay in power and deal with the failing economy. He even said "I love Fox News."

I bet Stone thought that he could throw Colbert for a loop. But that just means he doesn't know Colbert very well. The man's a master of improvisation, and he just rolled with it, as you can see in the video clip after the jump.

My favorite line from Colbert waswhen he told Stone that the movie was a very down-the-middle portrait of Dubya: "I thought you were some biased left-wing nutjob. But it turns out you're a very evenhanded left-wing nutjob."

Stone's efforts to go against the grain were admirable, but they fell flat. This is a lesson all Colbert guests should get from this: don't try to be cute. Let Stephen run the interview. He knows what he's doing, and unless you're sitting on his lap kissing him, it's very hard to fluster the man. He'll give you more than enough room to get your message across. Just go with it and have fun.