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Just a week after getting lambasted by a local audience at the 92nd Street Y in New York for giving an “overly arty” lecture (apparently people expected the renown funnyman to be, well… funny), Steve Martin was back in the limelight on the Colbert Report last Wednesday. Martin, a passionate connoisseur and collector, offered an extremely tongue-in-cheek lesson on art valuation centering around a portrait of the show’s host.

It’s hilarious, and maybe a little barbed: Colbert implores Martin to buy the digital print, who demurs, estimating the piece to be worth all of $19. The best part of the entire segment is the eventual arrival of three prominent modern artists, all of whom make funny but illuminating points regarding the portrait’s value.

"La Scienza della Laziness" by Frank Stella | Image: The National Gallery of Art Washington DC via Wikipedia

First, Frank Stella, who Colbert welcomes as “the father of minimalism,” emerges from back stage. His contribution to the repartee is first to declare that the piece is, indeed, art.

Image: Iknowtheledge.com

Next, world renown street artist Shepard Fairey joins Colbert and Martin, and adds one of his trademark “OBEY” stencils to the portrait. Martin feigns immediate interest — all it takes is the mark of a big name.

"Untitled XIV" by Andres Serrano | Image: Zoestrauss.blogspot.com

Finally, ultra-controversial artist Andres Serrano enters the fray, drawing devil horns and a Hitler mustache on the likeness of Colbert and adding his signature to it. A little drama is never a bad thing in the art world — as Serrano knows all too well, and in the blink of an eye Martin’s interest is piqued.

The whole thing is a hoot, but it’s also a savvy little dissection of the ways that some paint on a canvas turns into treasure.