O’Reilly vs. Colbert: More fizzle than sizzle

The long-awaited meetings between Bill O'Reilly and Stephen Colbert were not epic, televised confrontations that resulted in verbal worldplay. Nor did their appearances result in someone coming across as a winner and the other as the loser.

That's because, when each guested on the other's program Thursday night, Stephen Colbert stayed in character, and Bill O'Reilly remained out of character. Colbert, as usual, played the part of an irrational, extremely conservative talk show host, while O'Reilly atypically softballed his guest and played along.

Had they both stayed true to who they are on their own shows, but not when they appeared as a guest on the other's program, we might have actually learned something. Instead, the two appearances came across mostly as a lark, a promotional stunt designed to help both hosts and hurt neither.

First up was Colbert on "The O'Reilly Factor," and O'Reilly introduced the interview by noting that "The Colbert Report on Comedy Central is a very successful program that owes everything to me. Each night, host Stephen Colbert tries to convince Americans that he is me."

To be sure, Comedy Central's "The Colbert Report" borrows heavily from FOX News' "The O'Reilly Factor," as Colbert's character borrows from O'Reilly. Colbert introduced the interview on his show with a clip package titled "Great Minds Think Alike" that highlighted moments when Colbert has directly ripped off O'Reilly's mannerisms and words.

NBC VIDEO Colbert, O’Reilly on the set Jan. 18: In what they call “a meeting of the guts,” two TV pundits tried to find common ground on each other’s shows. “Most” host Alison Stewart has the details. The Most

But just as the NBC version of "The Office" started as a carbon copy of the UK version but grew into its own self-sustaining, independent organism, "The Colbert Report" has become much more than just a "Saturday Night Live" sketch about the "Factor."

By embracing the over-the-top, personality driven cable news format, Colbert ruthlessly mocks that method of delivering news and opinion, and somewhat ironically has developed a following for a show that happens to also be exactly what it makes fun of on a daily basis.

Watching both men interact, the obvious became even more clear: Both are intelligent, exceptional orators who can think rapidly and respond in a microsecond. One uses those skills to deliver his perspective about the day's news, while one uses them to deliver satire of those who filter the day's news through their own perspective.

Referencing the similarities during his show, O'Reilly asked, "Don't you owe me an enormous amount of money?" Colbert didn't flinch, as usual, and said, "Well, if I were imitating you, Bill, I would, but there's a difference between imitation and emulation."

Asking these questions demonstrated, of course, that O'Reilly was not being serious. Instead, "Papa Bear," as Colbert calls O'Reilly, happily played along with Colbert the character. On Comedy Central, O'Reilly took all of Colbert's jabs in stride, laughing, for example, at the copy of his book Colbert presented, which had a giant "30 percent off" sticker covering O'Reilly's face.

That may do something to convince Colbert's fans that O'Reilly isn't just a humorless ideologue, just as O'Reilly's fans may have found Colbert to be a talented, if opinionated, comedian.

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