Colbert takes comic routine to Congress

Taking his blowhard act to Congress, comedian Stephen Colbert told lawmakers that one day of picking beans alongside illegal immigrants convinced him that farm work is "really, really hard."

"It turns out and I did not know this most soil is at ground level," Colbert testified Friday. Also, "It was hotter than I like to be."

Yet Colbert expressed befuddlement that more Americans aren't clamouring to "begin an exciting career" in the fields and instead are leaving the work to illegal immigrants.

Colbert stayed in character as a pompous Comedy Central news commentator as he offered a House hearing his "vast" knowledge, drawn from spending a single day on a New York farm as a guest of the United Farm Workers.

Colbert pleaded with the lawmakers to do something about illegal workers, because "I am not going back out there."After a day of farm work, he said, "I don't even want to watch Green Acres again."

Colbert launched into his schtick, insisting he wanted his tomatoes picked by Americans, not Mexicans."I'm not a fan of the government doing anything," Colbert insisted. "But I've got to ask: Why isn't the government doing anything?"