After day of farm work, comic Stephen Colbert tells Congress: ‘I am not going back out there’

Colbert tells lawmakers farm work ‘really hard’

WASHINGTON — Taking his blowhard act to Congress, comedian Stephen Colbert has told lawmakers he doesn’t want Mexicans picking his tomatoes. And he expressed befuddlement that more Americans aren’t clamoring to “begin an exciting career” in farm work.

A straight-faced Colbert testified in character Friday at a House hearing on illegal farm workers. He offered what he called his “vast” knowledge of the subject after spending a day on a vegetable farm in New York.

Colbert described his ordeal of stooping to pick beans as “really, really hard.” As he put it: “It turns out, and I did not know this, most soil is at ground level.”

He pleaded with Congress to do something about illegal workers because “I am not going back out there.”

After his day on a farm, Colbert says, “I don’t even want to watch Green Acres again.”

THIS IS A BREAKING NEWS UPDATE. Check back soon for further information. AP’s earlier story is below.

WASHINGTON (AP) — House Judiciary Committee Chairman John Conyers has told Stephen Colbert how happy he was that the comedian’s appearance filled the seats for a hearing on illegal farm workers. Then he tried to kick him out.

Before the Comedy Central comedian launched into his joke-filled testimony, Conyers said he couldn’t remember when a hearing drew such a crowd. California Democrat Zoe Lofgren guessed it might have been for the impeachment of President Bill Clinton.

But then Conyers, a Michigan Democrat, asked Colbert to leave the room, saying: “You run your show, we run the committee.”

Colbert, who recently spent a day picking vegetables on a farm in New York, said he was there at the invitation of subcommittee chairman Lofgren. Lofgren signaled that he should stay.

Conyers later withdrew his request.