Stephen Colbert recently gave a rather candid interview for The Onion’s A.V. club. Not his first interview, not necessarily more revealing, but it seems as if he’s looking for new things to do on his show, the Colbert Report.

During tonight’s show (February 9, 2006), he couldn’t control his laughter (which was in itself quite funny) and he presented a pastiche of a music video from the 1980s. All quite nice and fun. It just seems like he’s experimenting. Which is probably a good strategy, given the type of show he does.

One thing that might just be a matter of perception but he seems to be softening his character’s political stance a little bit. It might be an effect of reading that Onion interview or just seeing him out of character. But comments about the war in Iraq being unpopular seem a little contradictory with his character’s overall stance. Even his grilling of critics of the war seems less fierce. Wonder what this will do to his popularity if it happens to be a long-term trend. It could go both ways.

As the videos of tonight’s show will surely be posted on Comedy Central soon, fans and foes will be able to look at Colbert breaking out of character and impersonating a 1980s pop singer. Precious!