By Kurt Schlosser
NBC News

Zach Galifianakis warned Brian Williams that viewers would turn off a long interview piece with the actor if it aired on "Rock Center." But after watching several candid minutes with the comedian and "Hangover" star on Friday night, it was hard not to be left wanting more.

Galifianakis, the bearded comic turned reluctant big-time star, opened up to Williams about more than just the buddy-movie trilogy that has made his extended Greek moniker a household name.

They talked about life on the North Carolina farm where Galifianakis, 43, and his wife Quinn Lundberg spend part of each year. "I have donkeys. I have blueberries," Galifianakis said. "But enough about your Brooklyn apartment," Williams countered. "I asked about North Carolina."

NBC News

Cue the whistling: Galifianakis says a 6th grade visit from the man behind the iconic theme song of "The Andy Griffith Show" convinced him he should go into show business. "I remember being affected by that whistler, thinking I could maybe try to do something like that with my life. Not whistling ... but telling diarrhea jokes."

But it's no joke that life at home on the farm has framed Galifianakis' view of Hollywood and all that comes with being a celebrity. "It's not for me. I'm not into that scene," he said. "It's so stupid. It's all so dumb. It's so weird to me."

And for a man with the last name Galifianakis, there's a punchline waiting in the wings. "If I've always wanted to have my name up in lights I would have changed it to Don't Walk." Nod. Wink. Cheers.

Starring roles on television aside, it's the "Hangover" movies which did put Galifianakis' name in lights. Alan -- the portly, man-purse carrying sidekick to Bradley Cooper's Phil and Ed Helms' Stu -- is back in theaters May 23 in the third and final movie.

And any interview with Galifianakis wouldn't be complete without actually being interviewed with ferns for a backdrop, something he's turned into comedic art with his fake Internet talk show "Between Two Ferns." Williams brought the two ferns to the interview and Galifianakis was game for a lengthy chat among the plants.

"This is the longest conversation I've had with anyone in, like, seven years," Galifianakis said, contradicting his earlier directive to Williams to "do a couple of jokes and then get out."

In what context is it acceptable to refer to "NBC Nightly News" anchor Brian Williams as Brilly Willy? Or Honey Bri Bri?

In the context of slow-jamming the news on "Late Night with Jimmy Fallon," that's what. The "Rock Center with Brian Williams" host returned to the "Late Night" stage and along with The Roots, broke down a complicated news issue, R&B style.

While Williams, Fallon and the Roots tend to be the stars of the slow-jam show, another member of the NBC family got a shout-out in the fiscal cliff breakdown -- TODAY's Al Roker. Roots member Tariq Trotter cleared up the United States' debt situation singing, "The United States clearly couldn't get any broker, gotta liquidate its assets, like Al Roker." 

Oh, yeah.

Related content:

• Brian Williams slow-jams the Wall Street news for Fallon
• Al Roker discusses White House 'incident'
• Obama slow jams with Fallon

The Super PAC isn't solely the domain of Comedy Central's merry team of jesters at "The Colbert Report" and "The Daily Show," you know. Monday night, they got some serious competition, thanks to "Late Night's" Jimmy Fallon and "Rock Center's" Brian Williams, who paired up to "slow-jam the news." While The Roots played soft licks in the background, Williams read out the news about President Obama's decision to join the Super PAC crowd, and Fallon joined in: "Aww, yeah ... sounds like the President goes both ways on this issue...." and later called the newscaster "Bri-Bri Will-Wills."

Added Fallon, "So many singles getting tucked into candidates' g-strings, the Super PACs are starting to get ... super freaky." Fallon then launched into a few lines from Rick James' "Super Freak": "It's a Super PAC, Super PAC, they're Super PAC-ing" -- and Williams leaped in with a reasonably funky "Yow!"

Yow indeed.

Meanwhile, over at "The Daily Show," Jon Stewart discussed John F. Kennedy’s 1952 speech on religious freedom -- the one which, when he finally heard it, made Rick Santorum almost toss his cookies. To Santorum, the speech prohibits people of faith from participating in public discourse -- but Stewart was left wondering how he could hear the exact opposite of what Kennedy actually had said. He was then prompted to introduce a new segment: "How is it that Mitt Romney Hasn’t Crushed this Guy Already?"

Well, how about those face-palm worthy remarks Romney keeps making? "Cars and sport" are a few of his favorite things, his wife drives "a couple of Cadillacs," and a few of his friends happen to own NASCAR teams. Stewart wondered if anything could come out of Romney's mouth that didn't sound like "Gilligan's Island's" Thurston Howell III.

And speaking of elitism, Stewart would not let Santorum’s "what a snob" comment about Obama go unremarked on. Santorum says Obama is trying to impose his views on higher education on an America that may not be able to afford those four-year colleges. Instead, Santorum suggests Americans should have the option of two-year or community colleges, vocational schools and apprenticeships. Which is exactly what Obama said, Stewart pointed out.

Stephen Colbert put aside presidential politics briefly to take on another kind -- the politics of film. He had a few choice words for the "Liberal-controlled" Academy Awards, and films like the upcoming "The Lorax" and Oscar-winning "The Artist," or as he calls them:  "Movies That Are Destroying America: Oscars Edition." Quite frankly, Colbert says he won’t see any movies whose titles don’t contain the number 2, or the word "Furious" in them.

But then it was back to the GOP presidential race. Romney held a campaign event over the weekend, drawing around 1,200 people to a stadium that can seat 65,000. Media reports remarked on the emptiness of the arena, but Colbert looked on the bright side, saying the important thing is that Romney relates to those empty seats "by also being plastic and uncomfortable." He is the only candidate that can correctly address the height of Michigan’s trees, Colbert joked -- referring to the awkward Michigan speech he gave last week.

What do you think about the hosts' comments? Share your thoughts on Facebook.

Related content:

• Mangled 'Seinfeld,' surging Santorum on late-night TV
• Bill Maher pledges $1 million to Obama's Super PAC
• Stewart: Republicans predictions over Obama re-election nonsense

Last night, Stephen Colbert made his triumphant return to hosting “The Colbert Report,” opening the show with a hilarious and heartfelt explanation of where he had been for the past few days.

He ran through all of the ridiculous Internet rumors and speculation surrounding his absence -- including one from outspoken E! personality Joan Rivers, who suggested he was off getting plastic surgery. He quickly shot down that one -- saying it wasn’t work on the eyes he was getting, it was a butt-lift. He was probably kidding.

It wasn’t the FCC cancelling his show, it wasn’t the Catholic church taking offense, and it certainly wasn’t because he was in rehab. There was no dwelling on details, but he did have this to say:

"Oh, one more thing. Evidently having 11 children makes you tough as nails," he said, adding: "Confidential to a lovely lady."

That almost certainly refers to Colbert's 91-year-old mother Lorna, who was rumored to be ill and had 11 children (she lost two and her husband to a 1974 plane crash). Colbert had already thanked fans on Twitter Friday night.

That bit of information dispatched, Colbert jumped right into talking about his favorite candidate -- Mitt Romney!

Romney and his biggest competition Rick Santorum are aggressively campaigning in Michigan, and the media aren’t really giving these guys a break. Specifically, Romney critics say the candidate changed his stance on Detroit’s government bailout now that the auto industry is doing well, adding fuel to those claims that he is a flip-flopper. Now he's praised the success of the bailout, saying he would do the same thing if he were president -- but back in 2008 Romney wrote a New York Times piece headlined "Let Detroit Go Bankrupt."

"That’s a compliment!" Colbert said. "Have you seen Detroit? Bankrupt might be an improvement."

So, to save Romney from being completely out of touch with voters, the campaign is bringing out the big gun who Colbert calls a “candied-yam” (referring to his golden tan) -- Donald Trump. The Romney camp is sending Trump on radio interviews across the country, as a sort of surrogate for the candidate. Colbert came up with a plan to help  Romney’s campaign -- he will volunteer to be Trump’s surrogate, complete with the candied-yam finish.

After that it was on to Santorum, and the criticism he made recently about President Obama’s faith and “phony theology.” Colbert makes a joke about Santorum’s awkward analogy – something about husbanding the Earth, and somehow the phrase “fracking her all night long” worked its way into the conversation.

Elsewhere on late night, Jon Stewart hammered at the recent hearings convened to discuss President Obama's plan to require religious institutions to provide contraception for all employees. When he noted that these same institutions already help single, unmarried men receive drugs like Viagra, he wondered "just what do you think they're doing" with the results of taking those pills? He then suggested everyone write in to "Rock Center's" Brian Williams with their thoughts, providing an address. "Seriously, we'd love to know," he said.

We'll get back to you once Brian Williams gives us an update on his mail situation.

Related content:

• Jon Stewart on Romney: 'He's like pixels'
• 'Colbert Report' to return with new episodes Monday
• Report: 'Colbert' shut down over ailing mother
• Colbert hires Survivor frontman to sing Gingrich's book
• First Lady Michelle Obama pulls no punches with Jay Leno