Better Know a District

Television program segment

Better Know a District (also known as BKAD) was a recurring segment on The Colbert Report. It offered a humorous examination of a different United States congressional district in each segment and generally included an interview with that district's member of Congress.

Structure

Each segment began with basic information about a specific district, such as history and geography, and sometimes a humorously bizarre event that happened there. The district is also almost invariably referred to as "fightin'," as in the "Fightin' 11th." All segments featured an interview with its representative.

One comedic maneuver that Colbert commonly employed in these interviews, particularly when he interviewed Democrats, was to ask the representative a loaded question of either "George W. Bush: great president, or the greatest president?", or "the Iraq War: great war, or the greatest war?" When the interviewee tried to express their disapproval of Bush, Colbert usually stated that the only choice was between "Great or Greatest," and nearly always stated, "I'm gonna put you down for 'Great'." (He often referred to previous Democratic representatives whom he put down as saying Bush was a 'great' president.)

After the interview, Colbert added the segment to "the big board", a map of the entire United States with district lines drawn; the new district, shown in sparkling gold on a blue background, was usually very difficult or impossible to see due to its small size. Though many districts were profiled, the map always looked largely vacant overall.

Reactions of interviewees

Although the interviews intentionally showed most of the representatives in an unflattering light, the representatives' post-interview reactions have varied. Colbert's interview with Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank resulted in Frank lambasting the program (he was quoted on a later Report),^{[1][need quotation to verify]} while the interview with Virginia Representative Jim Moran pleased the congressman — he told The New York Times that he thought Colbert "let (him) off kind of light."^[2]

California Representative Brad Sherman appeared to be in on the joke.^[3] He claimed not to know that his San Fernando Valley district was home to the pornography industry, gave an apparently long and dull explanation of a tax proposal, and participated in the making of a "pornographic video" with Colbert and impersonated a robot.

The Washington Times published a story on the show stating that "several lawmakers said doing the spoof spot on 'The Colbert Report' on TV's Comedy Central actually has raised their profiles back home";^[4] however, the Los Angeles Times has reported that due to the fact that many House members have "stumbled badly" during this segment, others are not risking "the price for looking stupid" and were passing up the opportunity to be on Colbert's Better Know A District.^[5]

On his November 7, 2006 show, Colbert lauded the fact that every one of the 28 actual congressmen whom he had interviewed by that point won election or reelection, which he claims to have been because they were given the "

Colbert Bump

".

Because of the way Colbert intentionally tried to skewer congressmen in his interviews, former

Democratic Caucus chairman Rahm Emanuel advised his fellow Democrats not to appear on the show,^[6] causing Colbert to make fun of Emanuel's advice on the show. Better Know a District segments subsequently began appearing much less frequently on the Report, suggesting many in Congress took Emanuel's advice. In January 2009, Colbert received what he jocularly claimed was a letter from U.S. Speaker of the House of Representatives Nancy Pelosi and said he was cleared to begin interviewing congressmen once again. However he began the 2009 season of Better Know A District by interviewing Republican congressman Jason Chaffetz

instead of a Democratic congressman.

Following the 2010 congressional election on November 2, 2010, for the first time since the show began, a congressman who appeared on the Colbert Report's Better Know a District segment was not reelected in a general election (in fact, several). On November 3, 2010, Colbert ran a segment showing clips of those fallen friends called "We Hardly Better Knew Ye".[7]

District count

unincorporated territories

)

Better Know a District began as a "435-part series," 435 being the number of

The districts covered in "Better Know a District" are shown below. Segment numbers are listed starting with the 37th installment as they no longer correspond to the actual number of districts profiled. The Washington Post has reprinted transcripts from segments of "Better Know a District".^[8]

Season 1 (2005)

Season 2 (2006)

Season 3 (2007)

Season 4 (2008)

Season 5 (2009)

Season 6 (2010)

Season 7 (2011)

Season 8 (2012)

Season 9 (2013)

Season 10 (2014)

Spin-offs

Better Know a Challenger

In the months leading up to the

After the segment, the district was colored on the "Better Know a District" map in goldenrod instead of amber, which is said to be the color all other districts are filled in with. It was upgraded to amber if the challenger won the 2006 election, or downgraded to cadmium yellow if they lost. Of course, it is nearly impossible to see the distinction between these shades on the map. Of the five challengers interviewed, only John Hall defeated an incumbent.

In the instance of New Jersey's 3rd congressional district, Colbert frequently referred to challenger Rich Sexton as representative Jim Saxton, a joke on the similarity of their names.

On May 8, 2014 Colbert resurrected the segment, interviewing Jack Rush who ran in the Florida 3rd district against incumbent Ted Yoho. In the interview, Colbert pretended that guns are people. Colbert also treated characters that Rush played in the past as real people.^[10]

Better Know a Protectorate

On March 16, 2006, Colbert introduced a four-part series entitled "Better Know a

On April 26, 2007, Guam ("the fightin' Guam") was covered, including an interview with Madeleine Bordallo. A global map was used to produce the "Big Board", given Guam's distance from the continental United States. On August 7, 2007, American Samoa was featured ("the fightin' Samoa") and an interview with Eni Fa'aua'a Hunkin Faleomavaega, Jr. was shown.

The remaining protectorate is presumably

Better Know a Founder

On March 1, 2006, Colbert introduced the "56-part" Better Know a Founder, an in-depth look at the signers of the Declaration of Independence. For this series John Trumbull's painting of The Declaration of Independence is used as the template for the "Big Board".

Using the same formula as Better Know a District, Colbert's first subject in the series was a spotlight of an interview with

On November 15, 2006, the second installment of BKAF featured three actors portraying President Thomas Jefferson in an America's Next Top Model style segment, America's Top Jefferson, with Project Runway mentor and producer Tim Gunn making an appearance.

Better Know a President

On May 17, 2006, Colbert introduced Better Know a President, a 43-part series that would refresh the viewer's memory of the accomplishments of every president in United States history. The first president covered was Theodore Roosevelt, played by Roosevelt impersonator Jim Foote. In keeping with the running gags of the segment, he asked Roosevelt if the Spanish–American War was merely a great war of American imperialism, or the greatest war of American imperialism. The second covered was Thomas Jefferson. Colbert talked to three different Jefferson impersonators, and judged which was the best.

Meet an Ally

On August 3, 2006 Stephen began the first segment in a series entitled "Meet an Ally" in which he examines nations part of the "

On December 16, 2009, Colbert began a new segment in which he interviews other prominent men named Stephen (specifically spelled with a "ph"). He started off by interviewing Stephen King.

Better Know a Riding

On February 22, 2010, Colbert began his one-part series, Better Know a Riding, during his coverage of the 2010 Winter Olympics. The featured riding (a riding is an electoral district in Canada) was Vancouver South, represented by Ujjal Dosanjh.

Better Know a Kissinger

One part series on Henry Kissinger prior to Colbert's interview of Henry Kissinger.

Better Know a Salinger

During the second edition of c'O'lbert Book Club, centered around

Better Know a Hemingway

Third edition of Colbert Book Club features this "part one of a one-part series".

Better Know a America

On December 8, 2014, while hosting the show in Washington DC, Colbert debuted another one-part series, Better Know a America [sic].

References