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Stephen Colbert interviewed Neil Gaiman today on The Colbert Report. It seemed that Colbert was having a hard time maintaining his narcissistic pundit persona, as the fanboy within was striving to break free.

The real Stephen Colbert is known for his love of fantasy. And tonight, as he recited his lovingly-memorized Tom Bombadil verse, this wasn't just written shtick. You can really hear the squeaky-voiced teen in him singing loud and proud.

Also, awesome of Neil to blurt the name of Colbert's mock-"dark" children's book, F*** It, We're All Going to Die before Colbert could get a chance. (Although it seemed maybe the first mention had been edited out of the broadcast). This reminds me of a story about Mort Sahl being interviewed that we tell at work. Years ago, Mort told his interviewer to load up a lob of a question to which Mort could reply, "I guess you could say I'm an equal opportunity offender." (Back then, "equal opportunity offender" was a new and hilarious enough phrase to qualify, to Mort, as a winning punchline.) However, the interviewer, either by mistake or to f*** with Mort, asked instead, "So Mort, would you describe yourself as 'an equal opportunity offender?'" And Mort was left with nowhere to go.