Eric Kleefeld February 2, 2011, 10:38 AM

Former Republican National Committee Chairman Michael Steele appeared on the Daily Show last night — both of him!

“Wait a minute,” Jon Stewart said at the start of the interview. “You’re not Michael Steele.”

“What?” Steele responded.

“We’ve had Michael Steele on the show, like, five times,” said Stewart. “I don’t — you look — you’re not him.”

“Jon, Jon, I can assure you — I’m Michael Steele.”

“I have to tell you,” Stewart began — only to be interrupted by the blue Sesame Street puppet that the Daily Show used during Steele’s tenure at the RNC, voiced by a rhyming, jive-talking Wyatt Cenac.

“Yeah sorry I’m late, Watergate,” said Puppet Michael Steele. “Who’s this extremely handsome gentleman?”

Stewart explained to “Michael Steele” that this other man claimed to be him.

“Only one thing to do, Johnny Beefstew,” said the puppet. “Ask us questions only the real Michael Steele could answer!”

Among the questions: “How do you pronounce the name of the gentleman that replaced one of you as RNC Chair?”

“Oh that’s easy, Reince Priebus,” said the human Steele, referring to the former Wisconsin GOP chairman (and former ally of his) who defeated him this past January.

“Reince Priebus?” puppet Steele said in disbelief. “Is that a name, or are you takin’ a final at Hogwarts? He just pullin’ a bunch of Scra-bibble letters out of a bag!”

Finally, Jon Stewart admitted that human Michael Steele was the real one — which left the puppet feeling sad and disappointed.

“What? Is it something I said, cheddar-bread?”

“Whoa, whoa,” human Steele responded. “He picked me — so take a hike, Dick Van Dyke.”

Part 1:

Part 2:

In the more serious portion of the interview, Steele justified the level of debt he incurred as RNC chairman, saying that he had not wanted to spend the money, but that investments were needed and the party ultimately came out on top in the elections. “And certainly the new chairman wasted no time during his tenure working with me asking for money to work in his state,” Steele pointedly noted. “So maybe he should give back some of that money and help pay back that debt.”

At one point, Stewart observed: “You had a stimulus program, through deficit spending, that created a positive result, that ignited your base.”

“There it is,” said Steele. “So you think you want to try that at the national level? Maybe it’ll work.”

At the close of the interview, Stewart invited Steele to come on the show more often, “because Wyatt’s arm hurts terribly when he does that bit.”

Steele’s answer: “I think I’m a better stand-in.”

“You are a much better stand-in,” said Stewart. “And we truly appreciate the sense of humor.”

Daily Show, Jon Stewart, Michael Steele, RNC, Reince Priebus