Colbert and the WH Correspondents Dinner

oh! there was a chuckle.

right now they've split the screen between Dubya and Colbert's "audition videotape" for the WH Press Sec. job

And the W impersonator was one of the creepier humans I've seen in awhile.

hopefully available tomorroww on the site, also

My girlfriend's roommate was trying to sneak in to this with her bloke but i'm not sure it would have been worth the effort.

Someone who's familiar w/ the institutional history of the event, has anyone been that consistently derisive to a President 10 feet away before? I don't mean, "heh heh little chuckle at your expense."

"Deckchairs on the Hindenberg" alone was worth staying up for.

Or, along the lines of "don't worry, sir, the metaphorical glass of your support is still 1/3 full. I wouldn't drink though, it's usually backwash."

i don't think the audience was dead, or un-amused, just silently thinking 'holy shit'.

I don't think "JUS' FUNNIN'!" would patch things up.

Scalia was in good humor.

As Colbert walked from the podium, when it was over, the president and First Lady gave him quick nods, unsmiling, and left immediately.

Asked by E&P after it was over if he thought he'd been too harsh, Colbert said, "Not at all." Was he trying to make a point politically or just get laughs? "Just for laughs," he said.

Among attendees at the black tie event: Morgan Fairchild, quarterback Ben Roethlisberger, Justice Antonin Scalia, George Clooney, and Jeff "Skunk" Baxter of the Doobie Brothers--in a kilt.

Which Doobie you be?

Flashback to 1996 and Don Imus.

Even MENTIONING secret CIA prisons in that situation: wow.

http://youtube.com/watch?v=8FBDPCyiFqY

Anway, thank goodness for the court jesters.

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/rids/20060430/i/r3282836043.jpg?x=380&y=314&sig=wLCAfurk134DK5RBvNZ93w--

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20060430/capt.dchg11404300454.bush_correspondents_dchg114.jpg?x=380&y=249&sig=1RbHOyakmXgnIAT8N01HLA--

http://us.news3.yimg.com/us.i2.yimg.com/p/ap/20060430/capt.dchg11604300453.bush_correspondents_dchg116.jpg?x=301&y=345&sig=2LDBuUJba6oVIZHwoWrqEQ--

worst: the Helen Thomas/Press Sec. audition (which was closest in feel to his actual show, which isn't all that funny)

Usually repititve jokes that go on and on bore me to tears, but the bit with Colbert's car-keys had me cracking up the entire time.

keep in mind also that these people think andy borowitz is the height of comedy.

Full Video (DivX / 640x480 / 26:35 / 200mb) - http://www.etherkillers.com/files/colbert.speech.wh.correspondents.dinner.avi

exactly. being funny wasn't the point.

"In the comments, one will find praise for Colbert for speaking truth to power, or whatever cliche one wished to use. However, Colbert (who I find very, very funny) said a few funny things, but seems to have forgotten that it's a failing prospect to attempt to direct satire at those who are beyond it."

Similarly, it has become tiresome to hear talk of courage in this case, as if Colbert is in some fear for his life, but chose to stand against the fascist state and mock the president and media. Rubbish. The easiest place in the world to be snarky is Washington D.C. The Capitol virtually runs on snark. I pointed out that courage would be exemplified by an Iraqi mocking Saddam (when still in office) where speaking against the government carried very real danger.

You mean like having your wife's career ended?

The other point that begs to be made is that the shrieking about police states, etc. demonstrates just how humorless much of Colbert's audience is.

Because a person is only brave when he may be killed or tortured for what he does.

It's fucking pathetic and depressing to me, sorry.

how come nobody's mentioned the hunky plumber yet?

It's good to know the only remaining mouthpieces the entire left side of america knows how to get behind are a pair of comedians who do talk shows on cable. That's all I'm saying.

ROFL

I wish there were better opposition to the gop AND the dems. hopefully, the continued toothlessness of the dems will lead to some sort of alternative for people. and hopefully, it will be one that doesn't involve more paramilitary militias. but speaking of paramilitary militias, do you ever read the nation? colbert is john friggin' brown compared to that crowd. he has the better forum though and he makes the most of it. a t.v. show will always trump a shitty looking zine. lou dobbs has probably done more damage to bush (and his poll ratings) than any democratic senator. so, on the one hand, don't underestimate the popular power of a comedian (or anyone) on t.v. and on the other hand, yeah, this country is in sad shape.

For the record, I am a huge fan of the Colbert Report. I thought it got off to a shaky start, but it has since hit its stride. And I think Colbert is brilliant.

I also think he stunk up the place last night. Save for a few riffs, he was just off. And he certainly came in a distant second to Bush's act. The idea that lefty bloggers are raving about Colbert's performance says far more about how politics have poisoned their taste, I think. After all, does anyone really believe that the press corps in attendance is ill-disposed to Bush-bashing humor? Seriously?

The audience didn't laugh — as anyone could tell from watching C-SPAN —because Colbert clunked. Period.

Moreover, it is enduringly fascinating how deeply invested many liberals are in comedians (and to a lesser extent, movie stars). There's of course Al Franken and Jeneane Garofalo (a recovering somewhat funny person), but even Jon Stewart is increasingly becoming a Big Thinker according to some liberals (at least from conversations I've had with them and bits and pieces on the web). I'm a big fan of Stewart's, too — even though I think he's become a bit too partisan of late. But, it would be interesting to hear a serious liberal explore the reason for why this is so. I think it's an interesting phenomena. What does it say about the "real" spokespeople of the left — journalists, politicians, activists et al. — that the most appealing figures are ones who get to hide behind clown make-up whenever the kitchen gets too hot? I have my own theories, but an explanation from the left would be more interesting.

Lenny Bruce woulda left in cuffs.

so you're really familiar with jazzfest then

xpost is colbert even a standup comedian?

This is the part that perplexed me about the early stage of this thread, where a couple ppl are like, "Oh just like at the Oscars where they refused to laugh at themselves, they are against this humor" etc--he didn't really seem to be cracking jokes about the press ppl. He was railing on the president! That should've been funny enough to those in attendance. Maybe they're all in cahoots with Anderson Cooper and his anti-Colbert campaign?

I'm just mainly frustrated I saw absolutely zero shots of Ben Roethlisberger during broadcast. ZERO. Deliver, next time, C-SPAN, for once in your life.

Some of what Colbert said was funny, some of it wasn't, kind of "eh" tho I appreciate the absurdist humor of having a man stand next to the president and basically point at him and yell "ASS" over and over, figuritively.

xpost: didn't amuse who? i thought it was (aside from the video) very top shelf stuff

Unfortunately, I just didn't think it was that consistently funny (neither did a lot of ppl judging by this thread and the internets in general, so the faux naive "Unfunny to who?" seems silly!!). If he got up there and sang the Charlene song and ranted about bears for a half hour I would've peed my pants, though.

I'm familiar with jazz.

xpost: I've never actually watched his show, so I can't really speak to his 'shtick'

maybe this was true for me too, i can't say

Gabbneb if you have never seen The Colbert Report then you are utterly unqualified to discuss whether or not this was him giving some kind of "fuck you" to the world, don't you think? He does these jokes every single night of his life, it would've been expected that he'd do similar at the correspondent's dinner by anyone but the stupidest of event planners.

xp. I don't think it's a given that the WH people who booked him should have expected Colbert to be as vicious as he was.

Lewis Black on how he toned it down at last year's dinner (so the size of Colbert's balls could've been expected to shrink similarly):

A third of my act at this point is about performing there. It was horrible. As an audience, we’re talking congressmen, lawyers, judges, lobbyists, congressional correspondents. It’s the most uptight audience on the planet Earth. The only thing that might be worse in terms of being a tough crowd would be for me to play a Baptist convention. That won’t be happening.

...What I did was, I took my act and turned it into a highly refined series of knock-knock jokes.

What do you think that says?

It says I’m a whore.

I think that's the explanation for why lots of people on the left are all excited abt this (if the blogs are any indication). it wouldn't have been such a big deal if the guy hadn't been allowed (including by the press corps) to live in a bubble with blinders on and entirely shielded from direct criticism for nearly his entire presidency (exception: the debates)

Huffington Post sez the media ignored it!

but Bush cannot face
any criticism (and
neither can his wife).

All he had to do
was go "Zing, you got me dude",
then it's all a joke --

Because he didn't,
it looked like a bloodbath, and
that's what he deserves.

xpost I think gabbneb probably was equally offended at being lumped in with you Mr. Holy Shit I Can't Beeeeelieeeeeeeve What Colbert Is Doing.

Even watching the video, I occasionally wanted to cover my eyes in the face of of Colbert's (laudable) shamelessness. And honestly, if I'd been in attendance, I think the enormous size of Colbert's balls would have made me uncomfortable. I think the people in the room couldn't help but be affected by Bush's proximity... I think it would have seemed almost too much and too far for the whole room to totally break up over Colbert's scathing routine right in Bush's face (even though I think most of them would have tended towards that reaction in a more neutral environment).

Ha, I didn't have this reaction, but I imagine I would have if I was in person... We have those conversations about being painfully uncomfortable when protagonists in movies are....

anyway, the dearth of media coverage is pretty interesting, but i have a feeling that will change in the next day or two. and the initial lack of coverage will become part of the story, too. but that's just a guess, maybe it'll just die away.

Uh yeah, it's that he apparently DIDN'T tone down that made the occasion unique.

1. The people attending the dinner who were/are self-aware and prepared to laugh at themselves have already thought of most of those jokes and didn't find them all that hilarious - they would probably be more amused by bears + Charlene etc. and obv my household agrees

2. The rest of the crowd didn't get it or yeah, were made uncomfortable and not in the "chuckling uncomfortably" kind of way.

Since Morbius reposted Black's sentiments I wonder (or assume, rather) that that had some influence on why Colbert didn't show any interest in softening it up for the occasion. In hindsight it seems like the Kristol interview was just warm-up stretches.

i am guessing that the lack of audience response to the audition tape is due to it being a direct feed into c-span.

Apparently, the President was not amused. As noted --

As he walked from the podium the president and First Lady gave Colbert quick nods, unsmiling, and left. E&P's Joe Strupp, in the crowd, observed that quite a few felt the material was, perhaps, uncomfortably biting.

Wasn't it last year at the White House Correspondent's dinner where the President did a HI-LARIOUS bit with some fake home movies showing him looking for those darned elusive WMD's? And they weren't there! It was a laff riot! I was laughing all the way to the 2300 odd military funerals!! Giggling as I donted money to help pay for over 10,000 wounded Americans!! Stop me before I piss myself with glee. But Colbert's bit, that was OUT OF LINE, mister!!

"Uncomfortably biting"? Awwww. Awwwwwwwwwwwww. That's supposed to be YOUR job, "real journalists", making the government -- any government, Republican or Democrat -- feel uncomfortable. Afflict the comfotable and comfort the afflicted. But no, God help a fake journalist actually use satire to point out a bunch of inconvenient truths you don't bother with because either you're too afraid of losing your invites to little prawn&wine parties with the swells, or it might just be too much real work, or, well ... pick your excuse for a non-functioning cowardly domestic media.

Enjoy the stay at Gitmo, Stephen. I'll raise money for your legal defense fund. Assuming they even let you have a trial. Which, although I joke, is entirely legal under the current rules of this Administration.

The President was upset? Good. I hope the President was sleepless with rage. At least then he'd know how most of us have been spending every night for the last three years.

aside from my contention that the thing was mostly funny, which is subjective. I wish he had had time to memorize it better, delivery was so-so. It is sad that preaching to the unconverted(or people who get paid to pretend they're the unconverted) is such an anathema to the political culture these days but hey, um, it just happened! good thing! dare to be a winner!

it was colbert's win,
well, his and his writing staff's
(helen thomas too)

Government that fucked up Katrina isn't going to suddenly pull its pants up and get hypercompetent when Boston gets nuked, or gas goes to $8 a gallon and those white suburbs start collapsing.

it's maybe the biggest event hotel in DC, i.e. all of these kinds of things happen there (tho i think there's also stuff at the Mayflower and maybe one or two others)

http://www.iht.com/articles/2006/04/30/america/web.0430bush.php

-- jonviachicago (jon83...), May 1st, 2006.

if i can just pipe in for a sec, coming from a TV production perspective. when people watch stand-up comedy shows on TV, EVERYTHING is laugh-tracked--or at the very least, the audience is mic'd for maximum laugh effect--and that naturally trains viewers to think that if they're not hearing crazy laughter at a comedy routine, that in fact no one's laughing. totally not the case. in the instance of the WH dinner, the audience would not have been mic'd, so you'd have to have a lot of fucking laughter for it to even be audible (like during the glacier joke... an easy one for EVERYONE to laugh at--loudly). juding by the set-up of these types of events, especially when they're broadcast for c-span and not comedy central, i'd estimate that there was quite a bit of laughter actually. and even having said that, i feel like ppl in attendance were probably too much in a state of "holy shit" to actually let it all out.

it's really his schtick laid bare though; Colbert is no doubt deft enough to realize jocularity is the order of the day and correct for it but to pull his punches in the president's face would be a betrayal to the character. There's not as much palpable viciousness in the character on television because it's unnecessary and wasteful on television, but it's definitely underneath everything he does. The dinner involved him serving up the essence of the character to the only person in the world it needs to be impressed upon.

Material: funny. Delivery: could've used work.

that is the only
reason I can think of for
watching teh imus

"Now I love the baby Jesus just like no one else, but Tim Russert needs to drop a few pounds and stop kissing his own ass."

But some folks complained that I wasn't hard enough on Stewart. While I do think he's gotten a bit too partisan, I think some people fail to appreciate the demands of his job. He's supposed to make fun of the news. Well, the simple fact is that the Republicans dominate the news. They run the government when the government has a lot on its plate. The irony is that those who argue Stewart should give equal time are imposing a "journalistic" standard on a comedy show while at the same time they complain that it's just a comedy show. The challenge for Stewart is to seem "fair" — so that he doesn't turn off a huge number of viewers who are to his right — but there's no reason to expect him to be "balanced." He should find the humor wherever the humor is. I predict that if the Dems take over the governent, a lot of lefty bloggers will feel betrayed when he turns more of his guns on Dems in power.

I will be really surprised if he DOESN'T do this tonight.

OTM--fear (i.e. ruining one's career) is an incredible laughter suppressant. I'm sure a good number of those people would have been busting a gut at Colbert's remarks outside of such a very awkward situation. It's easier to find humor objectively than subjectively.

I imagine it's not unlike listening to a really dirty joke with your mom is sitting next to you. No matter how funny it is, you're gonna keep a straight face.

how does it keep up with the news like that?

is that where you get 72 virgins?

Stewart did pretty well with Kerry during the campaign, responding to clips from the trail ... rolling his eyes in boredom, or declaring "You're TRYING to lose!"

Bush-is-a-syntactically-challenged-dummy is easier, no doubt -- that's why it was the vein the Man Himself chose to mine at showing what a goshdarn Good Sport he is on Saturday.

A funny line, but the modern WH media is more like Nora Helmer pre-doorslam. Love or its lack isn't the point, just the withholding or gifting of cash or orgasms.

Way to proofread, E&P!

By JACQUES STEINBERG
Published: May 3, 2006

Mark Smith, a reporter for The Associated Press who is president of the White House Correspondents' Association, acknowledges that he had not seen much of Stephen Colbert on Comedy Central before he booked him as the main entertainment for the association's annual black-tie dinner on Saturday night. But he says he knew enough about Mr. Colbert — "He not only skewers politicians, he skewers those of us in the media" — to expect that he would cause some good-natured discomfort among the 2,600 guests, many of them politicians and reporters.

What Mr. Smith did not anticipate, he said, was that Mr. Colbert's nearly 20-minute address would become one of the most hotly debated topics in the politically charged blogosphere. Mr. Colbert delivered his remarks in character as the Bill O'Reillyesque commentator he plays on "The Colbert Report," although this time his principal foil, President Bush, was just a few feet away.

"There was nothing he said where I would have leapt up to say, 'Stop,' " said Mr. Smith, who introduced Mr. Colbert and sat near him on the dais. "I thought he was very funny," Mr. Smith added, though there was hardly consensus on that point yesterday.

At issue was a heavily nuanced, often ironic performance by Mr. Colbert, who got in many licks at the president — on the invasion of Iraq, on the administration's penchant for secrecy, on domestic eavesdropping — with lines that sounded supportive of Mr. Bush but were quickly revealed to be anything but. And all this after Mr. Colbert tried, at the outset, to soften up the president by mocking his intelligence, saying that he and Mr. Bush were "not so different," by which he meant, he explained, "we're not brainiacs on the nerd patrol."

"Now I know there's some polls out there saying this man has a 32-percent approval rating," Mr. Colbert said a few moments later. "But guys like us, we don't pay attention to the polls. We know that polls are just a collection of statistics that reflect what people are thinking 'in reality.' And reality has a well-known liberal bias."

That line got a relatively warm laugh, but many others were met with near silence. In one such instance, he criticized reporters for likening Mr. Bush's recent staff changes to "rearranging the deck chairs on the Titanic." "This administration is not sinking," Mr. Colbert said; "this administration is soaring. If anything, they are rearranging the deck chairs on the Hindenburg."

In an online survey begun yesterday, the snarky Web site Gawker sought to boil down the matter to its essence by asking readers to vote on whether they thought Mr. Colbert's performance, broadcast live on C-Span and since then widely available on the Internet, was "one of the most patriotic acts I've witnessed of any individual" or "not really that funny."

Meanwhile, on its Web site, the trade journal Editor & Publisher posted more than a dozen letters from readers under a headline that reflected the broad range of electronic opinion: "Colbert Offensive, Colbert Mediocre, Colbert a Hero, Colbert Vicious, Colbert Brave." Mr. Colbert's employer, Comedy Central, said it had received nearly 2,000 e-mail messages by Monday morning — a response, it said, rivaled only by the contentious appearance nearly two years ago of Jon Stewart, Mr. Colbert's comedy patron, on the now-defunct CNN shout-fest "Crossfire."

Others chided the so-called mainstream media, including The New York Times, which ignored Mr. Colbert's remarks while writing about the opening act, a self-deprecating bit Mr. Bush did with a Bush impersonator.

Some, though, saw nothing more sinister in the silence of news organizations than a decision to ignore a routine that, to them, just was not funny.

"I'm a big Stephen Colbert fan, a huge Bush detractor, and I think the White House press corps has been out to lunch for much of the last five years," Noam Scheiber wrote by way of introduction on the New Republic's Web site. But a few lines later he said: "I laughed out loud maybe twice during Colbert's entire 20-odd minute routine. Colbert's problem, blogosphere conspiracy theories notwithstanding, is that he just wasn't very entertaining."

In addition to the challenge of coming after the president and his doppelgänger, Mr. Colbert struggled to find common comedic ground in a room that included politicians across the ideological spectrum, as well as reporters and Hollywood stars. In that sense, he was in good company: many of his recent predecessors — who have included Cedric the Entertainer, Jay Leno, Mr. Stewart, Ray Romano and Al Franken — were knocked, at least in some quarters, for falling flat.

"It's very, very tricky," Mr. Franken, a Democrat who played the dinner twice during the Clinton years but was not there on Saturday, said in an interview. "I thought that what Stephen did was very admirable."

Mary Matalin, a Republican who has served the Bush White House as assistant to the president and counselor to the vice president, had a different take.

"This was predictable, Bush-bashing kind of humor," Ms. Matalin, who was there, said in an interview. Of Mr. Colbert, she said, "Because he is who he is, and everyone likes him, I think this room thought he was going to be more sophisticated and creative."

Mr. Colbert declined through a "Colbert Report" spokeswoman to comment yesterday. Similarly, another Colbert target, Mr. Bush's spokesman, Scott McClellan, said he had no comment, including on reports that Mr. Bush had appeared irritated by the end of Mr. Colbert's speech.

"We'll let others be the entertainment critics," Mr. McClellan said by phone from the White House. "I know better than to insert myself into that one."

http://redstateson.blogspot.com/2006/05/colbertd.html

Colbert really brought it Saturday night. And if his performance won him countless new fans and viewers, it also may have marked his character's prime. Once you humiliate and shame your targets to their faces, the President of the United States included, your job is pretty much done. All subsequent performances are for those who are in on and share the joke -- a reinforcement of their political prejudice. Colbert seems on the verge of mass acceptance; and when "60 Minutes" gives you the soft profile treatment, what's the point of your satire?

everything's great,
no need for satire, hooray!
GLAD THAT'S ALL CLEARED UP

I don't understand why some people feign surprise that this has generated a lot of internet chatter. Everything generates commentary these days, and here we have a satirist delivering his material to a room full of his targets, many of whom may be counted amongst the most powerful people in the world, including the President of the USA.

I mean, I think that's interesting.

Anybody can be crass or nasty (i.e. Imus), but Colbert cut cleanly and efficiently. I think he had some pretty serious material that was of a different charecter than what you normally see at these events. Imus, on the other hand, didn't actually pack his material with a lot of substance, he was mostly just being a dick, a dick that delivered a few yuks--a yuk dick.

And what's Goldberg going on about, with comedians and actors being liberal's political heroes? I just don't see anybody going on about how Shawn Penn is going to save us from ourselves. It's silly. Goldberg knows it's silly too, and so ought that tool who keeps posting Jonah's vapid commentary on this thread.

Also, I pretty much agree with tremendoid. I mean, it was pretty cool, wasn't it?

Also, M. Matalin is a mendacious snake, and whoever said "Goldberg...does seem To Get It" (capitalization not mine) is an ass.

This is funnier than Colbert's entire routine.

Isaac: “Has anybody read that Nazis are going to march in New Jersey? I read this in the newspaper, we should go down there, get some guys together, you know, get some bricks and baseball bats and really explain things to them.”

[Man]: “There was this devastating satirical piece on that on the op-ed page of the Times. It is devastating.”

Isaac: “Well, well, a satirical piece in the Times is one thing, but bricks and baseball bats really gets right to the point.”

[Woman]: “Oh, but really biting satire is always better than physical force.”

Isaac: “No, physical force is always better with Nazis. Cos it’s hard to satirize a guy with shiny boots.”

"You like to watch, don't you, Dan?"

"I,uh, like to think of myself as an erotic superstar."

Que lastima.

"Skewering comedy skit angers Bush and aides
By Paul Bedard

Posted 5/1/06

Comedy Central star Stephen Colbert's biting routine at the White House Correspondents Association dinner won a rare silent protest from Bush aides and supporters Saturday when several independently left before he finished.

"Colbert crossed the line," said one top Bush aide, who rushed out of the hotel as soon as Colbert finished. Another said that the president was visibly angered by the sharp lines that kept coming.

"I've been there before, and I can see that he is [angry]," said a former top aide. "He's got that look that he's ready to blow."

Colbert's routine was similar to what he does on his show, the Colbert Report, but much longer on the topic of Bush, suggesting that the president is out of touch with reality. Aides and reporters, however, said that it did not overshadow Bush's own funny routine, which featured an impersonator who told the audience what Bush was thinking when he spoke dull speech lines.

In fact, some aides crowed over reports that the president easily bested Colbert in the reviews of both comedy acts.
"

http://www.usnews.com/usnews/news/articles/060501/1whwatch.htm

yes who would have expected that the washington press corps would find the president MUCH funnier than some smartass from new york? or that they would universally assure the president of such in one article and column after another, like tony snow's grading their papers?

aw, jealous much?

but that was one of the funniest lines. this man does not love funny.

point being that acting "with us or against us" re: subjective level of enjoyability of Colbert's performance is just a little, uh, fucking lame and short-sighted.

WAHT

First, let me state my credentials: I am a funny guy. This is well known in certain circles, which is why, even back in elementary school, I was sometimes asked by the teacher to "say something funny" -- as if the deed could be done on demand. This, anyway, is my standing for stating that Stephen Colbert was not funny at the White House Correspondents' Association Dinner.

Ok this is some kind of McSweeney's redirect hack, right?

Yup, exactly. It's like a Fred Willard character; the best way to assert your humorless is to explicitly state that you're a pretty funny guy, and like a good joke as much as everybody else, etc

Also, apparently in the ABC News video of the speech, the audience laughter is far more audible.

cuz you know, TV pundits don't mix metaphors.

oh right so me thinking his delivery was really stilted and took a huge amount of the punch from his gags makes me an asshole. thanks. this was exactly my fucking point, above. I guess I'll just go vote republican from now on 'cause god forbid I disagree with the hivemind occasionally. Free Mumia?

a friend of mine in PERU e-mailed the clip out to her whole address book. it was a drag that all the day-after coverage was about how Dubya had such a good sense of humor with his doppleganger, but i think the word got out nevertheless.

Whatever, the funniest thing is the response this is getting, instapundit clones all insisting one after another NOT FUNNY while repeating his lines over and over again, pointing out how they're NOT FUNNY AND NO ONE CARES OR EVEN KNOWS ABOUT HIS PERFORMANCE, way to go with not giving the routine publicity dudes.

LOLOLOLOLOL

THOSE THIRTY DUDES SURE DO SUCK UP SOME BANDWIDTH

[Stephen Colbert] is representative of what too often passes for political courage, not to mention wit, in this country. His defenders — and they are all over the blogosphere — will tell you he spoke truth to power. This is a tired phrase, as we all know, but when it was fresh and meaningful it suggested repercussions, consequences — maybe even death in some countries. When you spoke truth to power you took the distinct chance that power would smite you, toss you into a dungeon or — if you're at work — take away your office.

But in this country, anyone can insult the president of the United States. Colbert just did it, and he will not suffer any consequence at all. He knew that going in. He also knew that Bush would have to sit there and pretend to laugh at Colbert's lame and insulting jokes. Bush himself plays off his reputation as a dunce and his penchant for mangling English. Self-mockery can be funny. Mockery that is insulting is not. The sort of stuff that would get you punched in a bar can be said on a dais with impunity. This is why Colbert was more than rude. He was a bully.

[... H]e failed dismally in the funny person's most solemn obligation: to use absurdity or contrast or hyperbole to elucidate -- to make people see things a little bit differently.

Colbert was was not only playing sharp satire to a tough crowd -- he failed in his duty as a funny person! i.e. HE IS NOT FIT TO WEAR THAT UNIFORM.

several boxes of Poppycock or possibly ever Screaming Yellow Zonkers could have made the cut, tho.

Colbert flinging shit at the magnates of gov't and press WOULD have been funny; I am chuckling just thinking of it.

http://www.junebughunter.net/images/beavis.jpg

I love Greek food!

But I'm new to this community, so could you please tell me, for future reference, DO YOU ALWAYS USE CAPS AND HYPERBOLE AND RIGHTEOUS ANGER EVERY TIME YOU IDENTIFY A TRANSGRESSION, ESPECIALLY ONE AGAINST A RIGHT-LEANING TARGET THAT YOU YOURSELF HAVE JUST ATTACKED?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!?!

Just wondering. (I'm teasing, so please don't call me a boring wimp. I may implode.) [winky-smiley emoticon]

-- JW (jo...) (webmail), May 2nd, 2006 4:24 PM. (ex machina) (later) (link) (admin) (userip)

He doesn't have difficulty using Macs, he makes it all up because he convinced me to buy a computer that turned out to be basically a known lemon and therefore looked BAD to a GURL about COMPUTER STUFFS and this compounded with the amount of times he's personally damaged my/his technological equipment because he had a DRINKING "HOBBY" PLUS INABILITY TO READ DIRECTIONS means he has to BE V ANGRY TO SAVE FACE IN FRONT OF GURLS. ie the "not my fault, gov'nor" excuse

Truth is out there!

-- Allyzay Rofflesbot (allyza...) (webmail), May 2nd, 2006 4:27 PM. (allyzay) (later) (link) (admin) (userip)

And WRT the slow-moving target thing: Listen, I know of a lot of smart people who don't seem to be aware of how ridiculous our government and our popular civic discourse has become. Maybe a little satire could redirect a few thoughts. Just sayin'.

right leaning article repost. right leaning article repost, right leaning, right leaning, article repost. right leaning article repost right leaning article repost, right leaning article repost. right leaning article repost. right leaning article repost repost, right leaning article repost.

right leaning article repost.

What an obvious example of a douchebag

-- Polonius Feeb, February 31st, 2006.

"A carton of hate and a wedge of spite," inseparable, dangerous, don't turn your back on 'em, but somehow lovable and popular because of it.

(mega xxxpost)

polonius: "what an obvious example of a douchebag"

Which is why I am no longer a liberal.

I am a tigger.

"For of all the things which he had said Tiggers could do, the only one he felt really certain about suddenly was climbing trees."

Call it the Fourth Way.

"liberal"

hamlet: "what"

polonius: "don't take any wooden nickels and, you know, er, to thine own self be true"

hamlet: "what an obvious example of a douchebag"

Getting jailbait hummers is what Tiggers who know better are best to avoid.

what the hell is wrong with me?

BTW, poster # 300+ wants to put in his 2 cents because THIS IS SO BORING WHY DO YOU PEOPLE EVEN CARE STOP BORRING ME.

I want to know how to become a Tigger now.

I had to look up "yiff". Are you saying that you find me yiffable, or are you saying that I am yiffing my self off here like some sort uf fluffy narcissist?

Why are people still posting on this thread? You are so BORING. Why do you even CARE? God, caring is so BORING.

Tiggers like to bounce. This is well established. Tiggers also like to understand that contemporary political discourse in the USA is a big stinking pile of nonsense. Tiggers quite often, but not necessarily, like to agree with me.

Tiggers like amuse themselves to no end. This is easy for a Tigger to do.

And now I'm guilty of being BORING! This is shocking, shocking!

Thanks for the first-hand evidence of what I suspected. Not that diff from ppl who thought Springsteen was a Reaganite in '84 -- once you account for the steepening cultural brain erosion since.

Tiggers are so September 10th.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=nVnw_tqZ_Hg

Ummmm... you're welcome?

I don't know, it kind of freaks me out. Two reasons: First, I am related to quite a few people with a similar mindset - they seem like they exist entirely in their own reality. Could I become that untethered? Second, it seems like the people in charge of the USA also have this mindset. That just flat-out frightens me. Having kids makes it worse.

RE: Tiggers and not caring, my problem is that I do care about all this crap (boring or not) but that doesn't seem to help much. I don't know that Colbert's comments amount to much in the sense that anything will change, but it was pleasant to see someone sticking it to the President right in his face.

(They went to high school with me and John J.)

To go along with the classroom footage?

Dan sums up our relation to Minnesota well. I notice he is the only one of us to leave (and then to not move back).

I am not in the least bit surprised to discover that my comments upthread were, um, a little opaque.

I did, however, manage to antagonize J.

Tggers are never bored.

You're one year older than John, El Jeffe (Hopa!) and me! Although that means you're going to be 35 first, so yeah you're old.

(xpost: Hahaha J!)

Why am I still at work?

So should I get mine own bizarro high school friends to post here?

So this is where you fuckers all hang out. Perhaps this can be the HSTNGS equivalent of "Chicago, TITTWIS UK WATERCOOLER circlejerkgangbang."

Of course, you are all invited, my internet friends. Come on in, the waters fine!

Didn't anyone tell you that kids give you an extra decade of seniority?

gbx, I meant to ask you your age (young man - or woman?). This only occurred to me when in the middle of a totally old person type dinner (wine bar, fancy dinner, rare night with a babysitter - but look I'm already home and it's only 9:30. And my grammar is much better than John's, so you know I'm sober.)

(Note to self: you're maybe not as sober as your think you are after visit to wine bar. Duh.)

http://www.carobinson.com/games/EMT%20-%20BEAR%201990.jpg

ihttp://www.evilwhiteguy.com/blog/images/dduck.jpg

http://creature-corner.com/nextraimages/hannibalmaskpic.jpg

http://video.google.com/videoranking

With Rich Little, of course! (more from the CC blog)

Yea, nothing that will make the journalistic mainstream look out of touch

Mmmm!

http://videocafe.crooksandliars.com/heather/wanda-sykes-takes-presidents-critics-white

obama killed at this. wanda sykes was ehh ok.

Ok, so who are his writers?

Jonah Goldberg was Not Amused.

frank rich's column today:

IF you wanted to pick the moment when the American news business went on suicide watch, it was almost exactly three years ago. That’s when Stephen Colbert, appearing at the annual White House Correspondents’ Association dinner, delivered a monologue accusing his hosts of being stenographers who had, in essence, let the Bush White House get away with murder (or at least the war in Iraq). To prove the point, the partying journalists in the Washington Hilton ballroom could be seen (courtesy of C-Span) fawning over government potentates — in some cases the very “sources” who had fed all those fictional sightings of Saddam Hussein’s W.M.D.

Colbert’s routine did not kill. The Washington Post reported that it “fell flat.” The Times initially did not even mention it. But to the Beltway’s bafflement, Colbert’s riff went viral overnight, ultimately to have a marathon run as the most popular video on iTunes. The cultural disconnect between the journalism establishment and the public it aspires to serve could not have been more vividly dramatized.

Hodgeman was pretty great.

https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=yW7OPByRGDY

haha Dune

Liked the inhaler gag, too.

I would have missed the Conan the Barbarian question (and aced the rest), but I think Conan was a jock, anyway.

gah, what a punchable face that guy has

(Currently downloading a deluxe edition of Wrath of Khan. His speech truly did inspire me.)

Damned if I'm gonna watch the monologue to know, but I've read that one of Jimmy Kimmel's jokes was roughly "Obama wanted the dinner to happen at the Kennedy Center but the Republicans wanted the Hilton, so they negotiated and came up with a compromise and here we are at the Hilton."

Obama: “What is the difference between a hockey mom and a pitbull? A pitbull is delicious.”