Prompted by the concept of 'Misrepresentation via taking out of context'

It was simply too delicious for words. She would trick him, she would snare him, and then she would humiliate him. His confidence would be broken. For once, he would have nothing to say.

But she must pretend. Fake the friendliness she simply could not feel. This motor-mouth humorist must first be made to think she was on his side. After that, all the other pieces would place themselves.

The interview had begun.

“Good afternoon, Mr. Hamm,” Ms. Olivia Parker greeted her victim, giving him a warm smile and accompanying handshake, “How are you today?”

“Very good,” he replied, sitting down, “Which is also very bad, because when I’m feeling good, other people suffer,” he smirked.

“The arrogant idiot,” Ms. Parker inwardly seethed, while outwardly she gave a light laugh, “I see your reputation is not groundless.”

“It’s hard to be groundless when you’re stuck on earth,” he sighed, “I’m shooting for ‘out of this world’.”

Ms. Parker forced a chuckle and flipped open her notes, “Well, we’re glad to have you here with us today, Mr. Hamm. Last week – as most of our viewers know – we asked them to send in their top ten questions about you and your work. Do you mind if I ask a few?”

“Sorry?” he said, leaning forward.

“Do you mind if I ask a few questions?”

“Still not following you.”

“Our viewers sent in questions about you. Do you mind if I ask about some of them?”

“Some of what?”

“Questions!” Ms. Parker exclaimed, then snapped back into her professional tone, “Do you mind if we ask a few questions? This is an interview.”

“Oh, yeah sure,” Mr. Hamm said, leaning back with a smile, “I don’t mind a few questions.”

“All right,” Ms. Parker sighed, and turning a page, began to read, “Sammy Coulson from South Carolina says ‘Mr. Hamm, I’ve been watching your show ever since it started, and I’m huge fan. I’ve always wondered: is your hair naturally red or do you dye it?’.”

Mr. Hamm was silent for a few seconds, then shook his head, “Sorry, I can’t answer that.”

Ms. Parker blinked, “Well, if it’s too personal, then I can move on to the next-”

“No, no, nothing like that,” Mr. Hamm said, holding up a hand.

“Then why can’t you answer, Mr. Hamm?”

“You said ‘a few’ questions, right?”

“Yes.”

“Well, you’ve already asked me a few, so I really can’t answer that. It would be going over the limit.”

“Mr. Hamm,” Ms. Parker said quietly, “This is the first question on the list. I couldn’t possibly have asked you any before it. I work systematically.”

“And I’m sorry your system failed this time,” he replied with a wan smile, “But ‘Do you mind if I ask a few?’ ‘Do you mind if I ask a few questions?’ and ‘Do you mind if we ask a few questions?’ makes three questions, and everyone knows that ‘a few’ can’t be more than three.”

He had set her up.