What's the deal with Stephen Colbert?

[DC_DEEP]

While your witty reparte(sic) is delightful, you could be bald and I would still want you to fuck me on the hood of your Viper.

Re-party?!? Woo-hoo!

Ah, the infamous Viper... it corners well, if NIC is driving...

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Colbert who was on The daily show before The Colbert report was more like the real Stephen when on the show but now he has his own show where he lampoons King O'Reilly.

I don't think so. Stephen was always in character on The Daily Show as well, just not the same character. It would even change depending on the piece, as evidence of this, but most of the time he was in character as a Stone Phillips-type. He's said as much himself.

I've only seen him out of character once, in fact, and that was when he was interviewed on Larry King.

 

[HUNGHUGE11X7]

Quite the contrary, as polls have shown that on average viewers of these shows are FAR more aware of the issues, world and local events, et cetera than viewers of any other show or channel, particularly Fox News (which is funny since O'Reilly often accuses the audience for these shows of being drug-using unaware slackers).

To further represent this I found the following on MSNBC from the AP!

‘Stoned slackers’ watch Jon Stewart?

Bill O’Reilly's viewers are actually less educated than Stewart's

NEW YORK - The folks at Comedy Central were annoyed when Fox News Channel’s Bill O’Reilly kept referring to “The Daily Show” audience as “stoned slackers.”
So they did a little research. And guess whose audience is more educated?
Viewers of Jon Stewart’s show are more likely to have completed four years of college than people who watch “The O’Reilly Factor,” according to Nielsen Media Research.
O’Reilly’s teasing came when Stewart appeared on his show earlier this month.
“You know what’s really frightening?” O’Reilly said. “You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it’s true. You’ve got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can vote.”
Comedy Central executives realized, and O’Reilly acknowledged, that he was poking fun. But they said they didn’t want a misconception to persist.
“If the head of General Motors was watching O’Reilly’s show, that could be very important to us,” said Doug Herzog, Comedy Central president.
“If you listen to O’Reilly, you get the sense that it was crazy longhairs behind the show,” he said. “And it’s not. It’s great, smart television that attracts a well-compensated audience, most of whom are voting age.”

No sense of humor at Comedy Central?
Relax, said Fox News Channel spokesman Rob Zimmerman.
“Comedy Central must have lost their sense of humor,” Zimmerman said. “Without Jon Stewart, Comedy Central would turn into the Great American Country Channel.”
Comedy Central also touted a recent study by the University of Pennsylvania’s National Annenberg Election Survey, which said young viewers of “The Daily Show” were more likely to answer questions about politics correctly than those who don’t.
Comedy Central had no statistics on how many people watch “The Daily Show” stoned.
Although seemingly taken aback by repeated “stoned slackers” references while talking with O’Reilly, Stewart was ready with a joke.
“This election is going to rely on the undecided,” he said. “And who is more undecided than stoned slackers? Ice cream or pretzels? Ice cream or pretzels? What’s it going to be?”
Whether it’s the slacker or no-slacker zone, O’Reilly is entering it Oct. 7, when he’s scheduled to appear on “The Daily Show.”
So if Stewart’s audience is comprised of stoned slackers, how would Herzog describe O’Reilly’s audience?
“I’m not getting into that game,” he said.


:banana:
HORSE

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

I found something else where he's not in character:

A Conversation With Stephen Colbert - Google Video

Interesting.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

“You know what’s really frightening?” O’Reilly said. “You actually have an influence on this presidential election. That is scary, but it’s true. You’ve got stoned slackers watching your dopey show every night and they can vote.”

god, what's far far FAR more frightening is that there are people who watch the O'Reilly Factor, take it seriously, and are PASSIONATE about voting. Like my father. People who watch the Daily Show, though they are better educated, more intelligent, and have a better grasp of issues and the world, unfortuantely are often so intelligent that they realize the absolute futility of voting and so they don't.

 

[mindseye]

I've gotta agree with NIC's excellent assessment of what both Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert bring to their shows.

I find, though, that I'll often "burn out" on Stephen Colbert. It's such an over-the-top character that it gets to be a bit much for me. I enjoyed the Church Lady on SNL, too, but five nights a week of Isn't that special? would be too much.

 

[D_Martin van Burden]

Regardless, Colbert's just a good form of entertainment, and perhaps thankfully, I work enough to only get a few moments of his schtick here and there. I remember at one point getting so incredibly tired of news programming, that I would absolutely refuse to turn it on the set. I would catch some headlines from the local paper or USA Today and just leave it at that, even more so when there was nothing but war coverage plastered everywhere. I just had to bail. Colbert started getting more popular, splintering a bit from his sidekick role on Jon Stewart's show, and I was always chuckling. Nothing wrong with that.

In a related note, after seeing Jon Stewart perform live, I got more than a little disenchanted...

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

In a related note, after seeing Jon Stewart perform live, I got more than a little disenchanted...

I've never seen his stand-up routine. Though I didn't really care for him much at the Oscars. When I have seen him off his own show making appearances on other shows, I've always been struck by how extremely intelligent, quick-witted, articulate and well-spoken he seems to be, even when he's not trying to be funny. But I do think he's probably best in his own element on his own show. I know I had some reservations about him when he replaced Kilborne 8 years ago, before he really got comfortable on the show and made it his own there was something of an awkward transition phase.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Some people, I have heard are ignorant to the fact that Colbert is mocking O'Reilly and think that Stephen really thinks like him...... that is the funniest thing I have ever heard and shows the brilliance that is STEPHEN COLBERT.

My dad is one of those people. I shit you not. He listens to WMAL and/or watches Fox News all day long (WMAL is a local conservative radio channel, programming includes Hannity, Limbaugh, O'Reilly, Mark Levin, The Drudge Report) and gets pretty much 100% of his information through these sources, except on the odd day when he will read an AOL news headline or watch Larry King. Anyway, he saw me watching The Daily Show once in a while and never really got into it. Once the Colbert Report started up though, we watched it together a couple times and he was hooked. He loved the show, watched it every day. Up until the point, about six months into the first season, when he finally figured out that Stephen was in character and he was just pretending to be a conservative idealogue. After that he stopped watching.

I think the thing that makes Colbert's show SO funny and SO on the mark is that, in spite of the fact that he is TRYING to be ridiculous and absurd and over-the-top as someone else put it (and he is definitely trying), he's still not even half as ridiculous or absurd as the idiots that he is lampooning. Limbaugh regularly refers to himself as a living legend, and he actually means it. Hannity is such a fucking tool it's sad. Listen to any one of his shows and then immediately go and visit whitehouse.org and download their talking points and you'll find essentially the entire script for the show that Hannity just did. and some of the crap that comes out of O'Reilly's mouth.... just boggles the mind.

In the interest of full disclosure I actually used to like O'Reilly until his ego got so huge that he completely lost all perspective.

 

[JustAsking]

I'm with NIC on this 100%. While the rest of the news media slept or woke up from time to time to kiss W's ass, TDS was in there kicking butt and taking names, all the while making us laugh.

I agree that Stewart is a genius. I have never seen anyone think so fast on his feet as Jon. But comedy aside, one of the best half hours on TV was the night Stewart was a guest on Crossfire and laid waste to the whole crew of idiots there. He was absolutely relentless and absolutely right.

Amazingly, except for Larry King, TDS is the only place on a weeknight that you might actually see an interview with Richard Clark, or someone like that.

I understand your initial reaction, Roger, but I have to say that TDS is a national treasure.

And by the way.... NI!

 

[rawbone8]

I'm with NIC on this 100%. While the rest of the news media slept or woke up from time to time to kiss W's ass, TDS was in there kicking butt and taking names, all the while making us laugh.

I agree that Stewart is a genius. I have never seen anyone think so fast on his feet as Jon. But comedy aside, one of the best half hours on TV was the night Stewart was a guest on Crossfire and laid waste to the whole crew of idiots there. He was absolutely relentless and absolutely right.

Amazingly, except for Larry King, TDS is the only place on a weeknight that you might actually see an interview with Richard Clark, or someone like that.

I understand your initial reaction, Roger, but I have to say that TDS is a national treasure.

And by the way.... NI!

I agree that I love watching Stewart, and admire his delightful wit & agility. He is one of the brightest.

I respectfully offer Martin Mull as a worthy rival for quick-witted genius. Did you ever see the him guest host for Carson back in the early 80's? Some producer thought it would be cool to have an all-comics guest lineup. They'd deliver their standup shtick and then join Mull on the set for the interview. Mull dutifully fed them straight man set-ups as he interviewed them and they delivered their punchlines. He couldn't resist going one better ad-libbing, and always got a bigger laugh. This went on for the entire program. I'm sure there were a lot of agents the next day getting shit for feeding their clients to a barracuda.

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Seen lots of Carson but I never saw Mull guest host.

 

[B_big dirigible]

I respectfully offer Martin Mull as a worthy rival for quick-witted genius. Did you ever see the him guest host for Carson back in the early 80's?

I remember him. That schtick on Carson impressed me as a strange waste of air time. Mull's a funny guy, but only when he isn't straitjacketed into somebody else's restrictive format.

Though anybody who thinks NPR and BBC are real news outlets wouldn't like Mull when he's at full throttle, as he gores sacred cows to the right and left.

 

[Gillette]

As much as I enjoy TDS and TCR I quite enjoy watching Keith Olberman. His treatment of the issues may be delivered in a dry manner but I find his commentaries dead on.

Countdown-The_Death_of_Habeas_Corpus

 

[B_NineInchCock_160IQ]

Why is it everyone who's not Fox News is labeled extreme left?

That's not a real question. I already know the answer. It just seems stupid to me. Both NPR and the BBC are in general extremely fair. So is CNN and I've seen them attacked as being "leftist." I'm all for skewering people who are *actually* extreme leftist idealogues. Michael Moore, for instance. I don't even like Al Franken. But to claim, as O'Reilly does, that ALL media has a strong liberal bias is just fucking absurd. When you start believing that the entire world has a strong bias... guess what? YOU'RE the one with the bias.

Incidentally The Daily Show is an equal opportunity lampooner as well. The Colbert Report, in general, is not. But that's because it has a more focused satirical target.

 

[JustAsking]

I think Jon Stewart needs a coanchor, and it should be Sarah Silverman.

 

[LeeEJ]

But to claim, as O'Reilly does, that ALL media has a strong liberal bias is just fucking absurd. When you start believing that the entire world has a strong bias... guess what? YOU'RE the one with the bias.

I think the news media's "bias" comes from questioning the presidential administration at the time, and if the administration happens to lean to the right (and pretty far, too), it's easy to label the news media as leftist liberals.

Put a liberal in the White House, and people will accuse the media of being too far to the right.

It's their job to question the government and how it's being run.

 

[madame_zora]

As much as I enjoy TDS and TCR I quite enjoy watching Keith Olberman. His treatment of the issues may be delivered in a dry manner but I find his commentaries dead on.

Countdown-The_Death_of_Habeas_Corpus

I love watching him. I find his delivery kind of humorous, in a stilted sort of way. He delivers strong points without backing down, and has a way of doing so with the facts clearly outlined, and tough to dispute.

Anyone who doesn't understand what a tragic loss Habeus Corpus was is an idiot. If you watch that video and see what's been done to the Bill of Rights, you might just get the picture.