Sure it's comedy, but is it funny?

Illegal immigrant farm worker hearings in Congress aren't funny ... or are they?

They might be funny, if the chairman invited Stephen Colbert, because of a segment from his show on the topic.
How strange.

The subcommittee chairman invited the Comedy Central personality to testify at the hearing, which addressed the possibility of offering illegal immigrant farm workers a path to citizenship. Colbert’s “expertise” in the arena of immigration and farm labor stems from a July 2010 episode of his TV show “The Colbert Report,” during which he joined subcommittee chairwoman Rep. Zoe Lofgren to spend a day doing the work of an agriculture laborer.

Maybe next, he'll get invited to speak at a Tea Party rally, because of his expertise as a no-comprimise conservative commentator!

James Rainey of he LA Times gives us a little more information:

It turns out that the real joke was not on Congress but by Congress, or at least some of its members. They and their fellow travelers in the punditocracy wouldn't or couldn't wrap their minds around the idea that satirists are citizens too. And that they are often the citizens with a way of cutting right to the guts of a matter.

Of course, Fox News thinks it was inappropriate. Does this surprise anyone?

If Democratic leaders were trying to bring national attention to migrant farm labor by inviting comedian Stephen Colbert to a House panel hearing on Friday, they appear to have succeeded, but Colbert's performance didn't leave many lawmakers laughing.

John Conyers was one, says Fox:

Rep. John Conyers, D-Mich, chairman of the committee, tried to kick Colbert out before he could testify.
"I'm asking you to leave the committee room completely, and submit your statement," he said.

Of course, Nancy Pelosi liked it, which explains further why Fox hated it:

... House Speaker Nancy Pelosi didn't think Colbert was out of line.
"Of course I think it's appropriate," she said. "He's an American. He can bring attention to an important issue. I think it's great."

As usual, Mark Evanier summed it up perfectly on his weblog:

I suppose that Colbert did some good in that he got some attention for an issue that many wish to demagogue but few wish to actually fix. But I don't see that he did anything that would get us closer to fixing it. Then again, probably nothing that happens these days before a Congressional subcommittee is going to get us any closer.

Personally, Congress hasn't been any fun since Jim Traficant was sent to jail. They should bring him back to testify about something.