25 comments to “GifS A.V. Club: Colbert Does it Again”

1. Da Rat Bastid:
   30 July 2006, on 5:56 pm

   Yes matt Lauer, you DO need to wait a half hour! I learned that when I was what, SEVEN?!?!?! IS he that sheltered?
   Colbert is a comedic genius.

2. Sean:
   30 July 2006, on 5:58 pm

   And the question remains: why do they keep going on his show?

3. Da Rat Bastid:
   30 July 2006, on 6:05 pm

   I think all you have to do is look at the title of this blog for your answer!

4. OGSteve:
   30 July 2006, on 6:32 pm

   Colbert is awesome. I am watching all of his other clips on youtube as I write this. You do know that he is a self-described “devout catholic” and sunday school teacher.

   Nevertheless, I have tried to surmise from things he has said the specific nature of his ’spirituality’ and as near as I can tell he is the kind of person that considers religion an internal matter, and clearly does not proselytize or give it priority over pragmatism and reason.

   I may be wrong. Anybody else have any better documentation as to his position?

5. Sean:
   30 July 2006, on 7:26 pm

   Nope, that’s pretty much what I have read about him, too. Hey, man. He used to host “This Week in God.” He ain’t no dummy.

6. Raindogzilla:
   30 July 2006, on 7:32 pm

   But what happens if I eat while I’m swimming? You know, I used to have Jon Stewart on a pedestal and Stephen as just some kind of adjunct but the more I see Colbert…

7. ATM:
   30 July 2006, on 7:35 pm

   “I used to have Jon Stewart on a pedestal and Stephen as just some kind of adjunct but the more I see Colbert…”

   I think both of them are fantastic. Who would’ve thought the most intelligent news programs on TV are comedy shows?

8. OGSteve:
   30 July 2006, on 7:37 pm

   In the king’s court, only the jester dare speak the truth.

9. Petersen:
   31 July 2006, on 12:02 am

   Comedians are good at criticising others because they are void of being criticised. Comedians be serious when they want to be, but if they end up saying something stupid, they can evade such by stating the fact that they are comedian, that plain and simple.

   As to the TV journalists asking “Why would politicians go on that show?” The question is worth asking. Why would you go on a show where the interviewer is going to twist everything you say and put words in your mouth to make you look like an idiot? The answer is simple: publicity.

10. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 12:12 am

    Yes, Petersen. Welcome to DemocracyVille. We have a fascinating thing here we have developed called Satire. It keeps a people healthy and honest. You should try it sometime.

11. Stardust:
    31 July 2006, on 12:18 am

    Actually Colbert and other satirists are pretty intelligent folks. Satire often gets a point across better than regular reporting. It’s to provoke a reaction.

    In case Petersen doesn’t understand what satire is, Merriam Webster says,
    Satire: trenchant wit, irony, or sarcasm used to expose and discredit vice or folly

    Wikipedia: Satire is a literary technique of writing or art which exposes the follies of its subject (for example, individuals, organizations, or states) to ridicule, often as an intended means of provoking or preventing change.

    I hope this helps you Petersen…lighten up.

12. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 12:38 am

    Yes. Thanks, Star. I want to re-emphasize that.

    Cobert is not a comedian, he is a satrist. And satire has always been essential to any healthy democracy.

13. stardust:
    31 July 2006, on 12:43 am

    You’re welcome Sean.

    My favorite Satirist is Jonathan Swift and my favorite satirical piece by him is “A Modest Proposal: For Preventing the Children of Poor People in Ireland from Being a Burden to Their Parents or Country, and for Making Them Beneficial to the Publick” written in 1729.

14. Petersen:
    31 July 2006, on 12:50 am

    Well, I’m not that serious or anything, it was a funny clip. I would never take it seriously, as no one should. Those journalists should understand such by now.

15. stardust:
    31 July 2006, on 12:58 am

    Well, I’m not that serious or anything, it was a funny clip. I would never take it seriously, as no one should.

    Petersen, as an English major (M.A.) with emphasis in Literature and journalism/mass media communication, I disagree with you. Satire brings attention to SERIOUS ISSUES and current events that stir people to some sort of action. It is not just mere comedy. I find it very disturbing that many of our politicians and people making decisions for me to be such stupid, idiotic dumbasses.

16. Raindogzilla:
    31 July 2006, on 1:06 am

    Star, Petersen’s busy reading “Modest Proposal” and turning a hungry eye on the Mexican children at his local emergency room.

17. stardust:
    31 July 2006, on 1:16 am

    Star, Petersen’s busy reading “Modest Proposal” and turning a hungry eye on the Mexican children at his local emergency room.

    RDZ – But since it is “comedy” and all rather funny to Petersen, he would laugh them all off.

18. Petersen:
    31 July 2006, on 1:22 am

    “I disagree with you. Satire brings attention to SERIOUS ISSUES and current events that stir people to some sort of action.”
    It can, but it can be very misguiding. Many times satire overexagerates bad and ignores good.
    For example, if one were to make a typo, a satirist could twist it to getting other to believe a person is illiterate.
    Thus, satire is good for laughs, but best not taken too seriously.

19. Stardust:
    31 July 2006, on 1:39 am

    It can, but it can be very misguiding. Many times satire overexagerates bad and ignores good.

    Depending on one’s perspective. One must be educated and understand what is being satirized to fully appreciate the intentions of the satirist. Take away the humor and the underlying message often is not funny at all.

20. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 7:51 am

    Petersen, you’re right. What was I thinking? No sane society would seek enlightenment from the rambling, ill-definined, snarky observances of such uncultivated philistines as Mark Twain, Charles Dickens, Tom Wolfe, Dorothy Parker, Jonathan Swift, Kurt Vonnegut, H.L. Mencken, Gore Vidal, Oscar Wilde, George Orwell, Cervantes, Voltaire — not to mention some of my personal favorites, Shel Silverstein, Dr. Suess, The Onion, The Daily Show, George Carlin, Lenny Bruce, South Park, Tom Lehrer, the Colbert Report, Bob and Ray, Richard Pryor, Ellen Degeneres and Tom Tomorrow.

21. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 8:39 am

    Star, if Swift wrote that today, they’d probably have him arrested as a terrorist. Unless, of course, he was writing about Mexican or Chinese children.

22. Raindogzilla:
    31 July 2006, on 9:25 am

    Sean, Ellen DeGeneres?

23. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 9:47 am

    RDZ: Hell yes, dude. Did you know her in her standup days?

    http://www.hamline.edu/~drhagel/EllenFAQ.html#god

    I looked and looked for the original routine and could not find it. Basically, she has god on the phone and every time she tries to get a word in edgewise, god want to tell her some joke. Y’know, cuz she’s a comedian and he’s testing his material. So she has to stop everything end let him go. And every time, it is the basest form of humor there is, a knock knock joke. And he is so solipsistic that every one of them begins with “God.” So she chuckles and asks “God who?” and his response is something like “Gozdilla.” And OF COURSE she has to laugh or he’ll punish her for eternity. Brilliant!

    Someone please dig me up a transcript of this!

24. Raindogzilla:
    31 July 2006, on 11:16 am

    Sean, for the lack of something better to do recently, I watched her latest HBO special and endured about twenty minutes on toilet paper and bathroom etiquette before I changed the channel- in lieu of throwing something at the screen from my prone position on the couch.
    I’ve seen the routine you mention and, despite my admiration for coming so boldly out, I just find her comedy, well, more Leno than Letterman- i.e., lame and tame. Sarah “I love Chinks” Silverman, on the other hand, slays me. I also like(d) Paula Poundstone quite a bit though I haven’t heard anything from her lately.

25. Sean:
    31 July 2006, on 1:51 pm

    Her timing is what is impeccable to me. Harkens back to Bob Newhart and the Great Bob and Ray.