Sounds like a question for Andy Chaikin. I too recall that it was a work-around. I would guess that by now it's possible that Buzz remembers what he was considering doing as opposed to what happened, but who knows?
I agree that he did great on the Ali G interview. I love Cohen,and I kinda hated to see him objectify all the silly things that way to many people actually thing ("What wos it like, walkin' on da sun?")... but heck, at least Buzz didn't deck him. Andy Rooney came damn close...