CNBC.com Pennsylvania Avenue Profiles in Backroom Power by John Harwood & Gerald F. Seib

Last night our book tour for "Pennsylvania Avenue: Profiles in Backroom Power" took me to a very cool place--the set of Comedy Central's Daily Show with Jon Stewart.

The building on West 52nd street doesn't look imposing from the street, but inside it's comfortable and welcoming.

To begin with, the green room for one night was marked with a large "John Harwood" sign. Since the show only has one guest per night, it was all mine.

Second, there's a giant bowl of chocolates on the coffee table; chocoholics beware.

Third, everyone associated with the show is a pleasure to deal with--producers, the head writer, and Jon Stewart himself, who comes to the green room to welcome his guests before the show.

I've done a fair amount of TV by this point, but rarely before a live audience. The studio seats about 250 people. Getting audience reaction while you're being interviewed is a blast.

Some authors have had challenging experiences with Stewart's brand of humor, but I thoroughly enjoyed. I started by making a small world connection between Stewart and CNBC. He was a college soccer player at William and Mary, as was my colleague Ashley Stringer, a CNBC cameraman, who played at Randolph-Macon. I told the story of their scuffle in one hard-fought game.

Stewart and the audience both seemed to enjoy the brief trip down memory lane before we turned to the book. Best of all, at the end of the segment lasting nearly seven minutes, he urged his audience to buy the book!

Fingers crossed that they take his advice.

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