You have to give it to Team Colbert: the subtle lengths they're willing to go for a joke -- and, potentially, to start a wildfire of an Internet rumor -- is pretty impressive. Either that or we're giving them too much credit, but we doubt it. As purveyors of some of the edgiest media satire on television, we don't doubt for a second that this is all part of a devious Colbert plan.
In case you missed it, Thursday night's episode of "The Report" included an interview with Salon writer and Wikileaks supporter Glenn Greenwald. Shortly after asking Greenwald if he was a member of the hacker collective Anonymous, a Guy Fawkes mask, a symbol of the group, appeared for a brief second over Colbert's face.
And then the Internet rumor-mill went to work. Had Colbert been hacked by Anonymous? Was Colbert dropping a bombshell that he himself is a member of Anonymous? Or was this just a product of a dip into "The Report's" savvy bag of tricks?
We're leaning toward the latter but, frankly, we'd be delighted by any of the options. Of course, we're mostly looking forward to seeing Stephen address the rumors -- how could he resist -- and toy with us even further.
The full interview is below. The mask appears at 3:22.
WATCH:
Thanks to HuffPost reader Conor Geary for the screen grab.