I'd like to pull a Newsweek. I did watch the wrong video, and I still stand by my recent falling out with Jon Stewart.
But Stephen Colbert! Stephen motherfuckin' Colbert. Jesus Christ. Jeeeesus. I can imagine him coming home to his wife and saying, "Honey, your husband is a genius." And I would agree. To pull off such a slap in the face, such a kick in the nuts, to the president, when he's sitting ten feet away, with gravitas! With humor! With incision! So incisive was it that my eyes split into a thousand pieces! So sharp was it that I could part a thousand tomatoes with it without swearing like I usually do when I am confronted with the problem of my dull household knives! So bold was it that the wit could enhance the titles of a thousand college essays, MLA format, without fading or losing the eel!
The audition tape was a piece of crap. However, in the context of the speech, which was brilliant, appropriate, and aimed at all the right places, it wasn't as abysmal. This is possibly because the speech itself overshadowed any faux pas of the video, all its blandness. Several times, man - several, several times - I thought, "Jesus, why won't they tackle him? Who's got the Secret Service on the other line? Cut the translation! What is this, freedom of the press?!"
Insane, Colbert. Simply insane. And fantastic. Not that this will result in any vicarious ball-growing on the part of the White House Press Corps, but it's nice to see that some journalists are risking their careers for the noble goal of truth.
Thank you, Stephen. That was - and I'll say it - the funniest thing you've done since "Strangers with Candy."
Glad you saw the light! And, I'll bite, the video wasn't nearly as potent as the speech. That was probably better suited for his own show (where he did reair it on Tuesday, albeit somewhat abbridged for time-saving purposes).
Nice to see eveyones going to get along now. =p
See, I read this before I had heard anything about the speech. But now I know. Boy, when I wrote the reply for your other thread, I paused; it lacked the full expression of what I felt, so I copped out with the minimalist sentences. What I really thought, however, reaches its full expression here. thanks, forename, it was a real treat, and thank you too, Stephen Colbert. (I'll continue calling you that, in the off chance that you don't want people publicly addressing you by your forename).
ball-growing.
Michael Allen Yarbrough
You are right! The speach rocks! But do you have any idea if I can find the video on the internet?
Go through Salon.com. Get a free site pass and search the archives. That's where I got it from.
I don't see what's so ballsy about Colbert's monologue. He knew going in that no one was going to throw him in the clink, no one was going to yank him off stage, or that the president was going to do anything else but sit there and take it. Without commenting on whether or not the routine was funny, I don't know why everyone is treating Colbert like Rosa Parks.
I mean, thankyoustephencolbert.org?
Considering the complacency of the press, it was very brave. I mean, journalists were planted and others were fired for asking the wrong questions. For this, I think it was ballsy.
But Colbert wasn't going to get fired for this routine. He had nothing to fear.
There are worse things than being fired. He'll never get invited to another White House event, provided that the Bush Dynasty continues.
That is your whopping appeal to courage - he might not get invited back? By that definition, every stand-up comedian making his first appearance on Leno or Letterman is oh-so-brave because he might bomb and not get invited back. Let's prep page A1 of the Washington Post every time a comic makes his first appearance on The Tonight Show.
I hasten to add that the White House Correspondent Dinner is not a White House event. it is an event of the White House Correspondents' Association. Did you really think the White House invited Colbert?
At any rate, this is all a non-story. The current kerfuffle is not because Colbert's routine was "speaking truth to power". It's because some people, for some bizarre reason, felt that the NY Times was wrong not to make the routine the front page story the following day. Making fun of the president, even to his face, is incredibly unremarkable in this country.
So, what are the possible things worse than being fired that could conceivably happened to Colbert as a result of the routine? His fan base is giddy, and the opposing camp is yawning and scratching their heads over the big to-do. I don't see any risk.
When you're no longer invited places, you lose a certain amount of privilege to acquire information straight from the horse's mouth. As for the White House dinner, no event involving the president takes place without the president conducting inventory of the guest list. In other words, he still has the final say.
As for Colbert, he said all that he wanted to say. Next time, though, his venue will be limited to Comedy Central.
Ok, what is this speech or whatever? I hear people talking about it..does someone have a link or something?
I don't mean to sound dismissive and mean, but just google Stephen Colbert, speech, needles/burns/trashes George bush, transcript, etc. Otherwise, it is a really interesting event, and all over the 'net. So it's certainly worth a bit of your time to search.
Michael Allen Yarbrough (PBUH)