colbertnation.comSure, Queen Elizabeth II's granddaughter (and now silver medalist) Zara Phillips may have made her Olympics debut at a dressage event a few days ago, but Stephen Colbert was determined to prove on last night's The Colbert Report that it's anything but elitist.
During a taped clip, Colbert paid former Olympian and current U.S. Olympic dressage coach Michael Barisone a visit to learn all the ins and outs of the sport with the ultimate goal of wearing a dressage tiara.
From piaffing ("fancy prancing") to passage ("horsey walking sideways"), Colbert quickly mastered the basics on a horse named Conchita, despite some initial hesitation while mounting his new four-legged friend.
"Should I be wearing a cup? Because I am not," he asked Barisone. "I wore a cup in baseball as a kid. I'm thinking this is a 1,500-pound baseball."
Later, when Conchita decided to buck a bit, Colbert exclaimed: "I think I piaffed a little. I might need a towel."
In the end, though, the comedian successfully earned the right to don that tiara.
"Hopefully today, we proved that dressage is the sport of Joe Six Pack," said Colbert.
While drinking a glass of champagne, of course.