Who wouldn't appreciate their "Understandable Vanity Award"?

Stephen Colbert loves Princeton. Let us explain.

This past week, the Colbert Report host had two Princetonian guests back-to-back on Wednesday and Thursday nights.

First up was Joshua Micah Marshall ’91, founder and editor of the political blog Talking Points Memo, discussing the mechanics of his “hybrid” news site.

Poetry professor (and all-around academic rockstar) Paul Muldoon considered the relevance of poetry in our modern life. He even read his poem “Tea” with Colbert, which, we must say, was pretty cute.

Taken with Colbert’s speech at Class Day 2008, can we conclude Stephen has a soft spot for all things orange and black? We’d like to think so. Either that or his producers are alumni.

Actually, current Colbert Report writer Jay Katsir ’04 was hired after his student address at 2004′s Class Day, a Colbert fansite says. And when the host came to speak at 2008′s Class Day,

Colbert was accompanied to campus by Jay Katsir, a member of the class of 2004 and a writer for “The Colbert Report.” When Katsir spoke at the Class Day ceremony four years ago, one of those in the audience was Colbert’s agent, who later suggested that Katsir be hired as a writer for Colbert’s show.

So Colbert’s agent knows someone at Princeton, apparently, and was at Princeton’s 2004 Class Day when Katsir, a graduating Princetonian, spoke to his class, which later helped land him a job on Colbert’s show, which (now here’s a long shot) might explain Colbert’s affinity for us. Or at least seeming affinity.

Oh, the tangled web we weave.

Last week’s interviews (with the adorable Colbert/Muldoon poetry reading!) after the jump.

Here’s the Muldoon interview:

And Marshall:

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