The Capitol is a big place. HOH gets that. But after, theoretically, working together — or, at the very least, in the same complex — for the past 12 months, it seems reasonable to assume Rep. John Conyers (D-Mich.) would recognize a fellow Congressman.

Not so, as everyone in attendance discovered at last week’s Judiciary Committee investigative hearing on Operation Fast and Furious.

While warming up to renew holding Attorney General Eric Holder’s feet to the flames for the administration’s botched gun-running initiative, Judiciary Committee member Darrell Issa (R-Calif.) urged the panel to make room on the dais for Rep. Blake Farenthold (R-Texas), a colleague visiting from the Fast-and-Furious-obsessed Oversight and Government Reform Committee.

Conyers immediately sprung into action, inquiring, “Is he a Member of Congress?”

Issa reported back in the affirmative, courteously informing Conyers, the Judiciary panel’s ranking member: “He is a Member of Congress. … He’s a freshman from Texas. He’s impacted by these gun control regulations. He is an attorney.”

A Farenthold aide intimated that the backbencher took it all in stride. “As a freshman Member of Congress, Rep. Farenthold understands the difficulty of learning a lot of new names and faces,” the aide said, wryly adding, “There’s an app for that.”

No word on whether Conyers and Farenthold have since been formally introduced. (May we suggest buddying up for the Common Ground Caucus?)