A small Kansas town became the butt of a joke on national this week.
The town of Canton became the target of Comedy Central comedian Stephen Colbert.

This all started when Colbert made fun of another Canton: Canton, Georgia. During his on-air apology to that town, he then went on to say that he meant to make fun of Canton, Kansas. Now the people there have their own message: Mr. Colbert, don't mess with this Canton.

"Pretty harsh words said about the city of Canton," says Brad Smiley, the Mayor of Canton.

"He obviously hasn't been to Canton, because he didn't mention the hot and cold water tower that's our trade mark," says Jack Koehn, the high school principal. "I mean, who else has a hot and cold water tower?"

Whether he's funny or not depends on who you talk to in this tiny town.

"Let him come to Canton and get behind the bar and bad mouth Canton and see what happens to him," said Roger Regehr, a Canton resident.

"It's just comedy," says Koehn. "It's satire. We take it for what it's worth."

Some people around town were less than pleased with what Colbert had to say.

"If he wants to try picking on a town, he should try visiting it first," said Rouse.

Even the Governor sent Colbert a letter saying "It's a shame you missed the McPherson County Fair where we surely could have gotten you bucked off of something."

Others are taking it in stride fighting satire with satire.

"He could be a terrorist. He could be a sleeper cell and this is his first attack," said Koehn, jokingly.

What Colbert has to say about this we'll have to wait and see, but for now, this town says they're happy with what they are.

"We have good schools. We have good families. It's a great place to raise kids," said Koehn.

Neighbors around Canton say this is hardly the way they expected to gain attention but they tell us this could turn out to be a positive situation for them.