I suppose you call this another historic first for Eric Holder: the first attorney general asked by a TV interviewer to quack like a duck on air. The incident came toward the end of a fawning interview by Melissa Harris-Perry (no stranger to clownish and embarrassing stunts, some of which caused tearful on air apologies).

The Hill reports:

At the end of an interview that touched on the Voting Rights Act and use of force by police, MSNBC host Melissa Harris-Perry asked the outgoing Justice Department head to imitate a duck.

"You know, we call you ‘The Duck’ in nerdland," Harris-Perry said, referring to fans of her show.

"The duck?" Holder asked.

"We call you the duck."

"We say you have a very sort of placid and even way of presenting, but you are just working for justice underneath," Harris-Perry explained as Holder stroked his mustache.

She moved her arms and head vigorously to describe the underwater movement.

"Would you quack for us?" she then asked.

"Well, I'm not sure I'm going to do that," Holder replied, smiling.

Holder said he liked the analogy….

Compared to Al Sharpton, also an MSNBC mainstay, Harris-Perry has a bigger vocabulary, but less excuse for idiotic hijinks. She is, after all, a professor at Wake Forest University, and was recently named director of something called the Pro Humanitate Institute:

Launched this summer, the Pro Humanitate Institute brings under one umbrella many of Wake Forest’s community engagement efforts. Through teaching, research, service and professional development programs, the Institute reflects the University’s commitment to making a difference in communities at the local, state, national and international levels.