TV

Though Mr. Colbert's TV persona is frequently and hilariously harsh with his guests -- talking over them, asking them diabolically loaded questions, launching into self-aggrandizing harangues -- he was on his best behavior with Ms. Obama, a tone he quickly set by comparing her to Jackie O.

In all, the appearance was kind of a disappointment -- no real sparks flew, he didn't try to "nail" her, which is his TV alter-ego's standard operating procedure with any left-leaning guests. She stayed resolutely on point, understandable given the incendiary context of the current campaign where something as simple as her husband using the word "bitter" to describe working-class voters who have watched their jobs get shipped overseas and their cost-of-living rise is branded and replayed in the media as evidence of his elitist condescension toward "regular folk." But in the context of current-events-themed comedy show, it was also tiresome.

Stephen got off one funny question when he asked her why she wanted to be first lady, "when as we've all heard, the phone's always ringing at 3 am?" She also settled one potential scenario when he asked, if after her husband had been president for eight years, would she run for president, since, "after all, that's the way it works now."

"No," she said with a smile. "I think one Obama is enough."