Bill O'Reilly, The Provocateur

Because I like to hear an opposing viewpoint, I decided to watch a little MSNBC last night. Self-described socialist Lawrence O'Donnell was doing his "Rewrite" segment. This is the part I caught:

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I almost feel silly analyzing this clip, but I'm sure some people don't get the hypocrisy of the above clip. Read this part:

Here's what I see when I look at Bill O'Reilly. A very, very, very rich man, who has grown phenomenally rich by playing a character on TV that the most gullible audience in the history of television falls for.

He then shows Bill O'Reilly jokingly saying to Glenn Beck "but then you and I would be be off the air because we're provocateurs, we do that every day". The joke seems to go over O'Donnell's head:

We're provocateurs? He's admitting that it's all just an act?

He plays the clip of O'Reilly saying it again. He continues:

It's all an act. He admits it. He's saying we're provocateurs. He's admitting it isn't real. He's just doing it for effect. And he's actually using French to describe his act.

Now I honestly don't think Lawrence O'Donnell is this stupid. He knows that O'Reilly was saying it in jest. But does he expect his audience to not see that, even in the face of video evidence? Or does he expect his, dare I say it, gullible audience to go right along with his ridiculous analysis?