comment #1

alynch says ...

Couldn't disagree with you more Jeff. I personally think that Colbert has overtaken Jon Stewart in the funny satirist department over the last year or so.

comment #2

scooterzz says ...

agree completely re: colbert....he's kind of become borat to me....and fyi--i thought prof. irwin corey was a riot (of course, i was twelve)...

comment #3

Zoidberg says ...

I can see what you're saying about the "character" thing, but I also think that Steven Colbert is a true comedic genius...and that's not a term I just throw around. I'm familiar with his early work on Exit 57 and The Dana Carvey Show, as well as later stuff like Strangers with Candy, and an absolutely fuckin' HILARIOUS book he co-wrote, called "Wigfield: The Can-Do Town That Just May Not."

I'll support whatever the guy does.

comment #4

lesterg says ...

Been watching since the first episode and love the show. However, I went to a taping earlier in the year and it really started to bother me that there's no "off" switch to the persona.

I sense that he's (slowly) being trying to incorporate a little more of his real personality into the character, but I wonder where he/the show will be in a few years if he can't evolve.

comment #5

MilkMan says ...

I hate to be a pretentious bore and paraphrase Vonnegut, but that thing he said, about how you should watch out, because sometimes you become the thing you pretend to be, but I think it applys to someone like Stephen Colbert, who is madly in love with this character he is playing, so much so that I'm not quite sure if he wants to ever say good-bye to his persona, and one day he might wake up and find that the Steven Colbert who created the other Stephen Colbert is nowhere to be found. In other words, yes, Oscar, fame is indeed a mask that eats into the face.

comment #6

PhilipGalasso says ...

find his interview with charlie rose. hell, find his interview with letterman last week. there's an off switch.

comment #7

renorambler says ...

Or check the Fresh Air with Terry Gross interview from last week.

comment #8

Josh Massey says ...

Anybody catch the new "South Park?" A couple of brilliant digs at Hollywood, including a very accurate sizing up of Mel Gibson.

God, I love that show.

comment #9

alynch says ...

"Say what you will about him but he understands story structure"

comment #10

thevisceral says ...

His ears are too freaky to ever be president.

comment #11

christian says ...

I think Colbert is a gifted comic, but I tired of his tv persona long ago. It becomes tiresome to watch him interview serious guests and always remind the audience he's a funny guy. It's a real one note character.

That said, he deserves some kind of honor for shredding Bushco to his face at that press dinner. He showed how the real media are groveling shills.

comment #12

corey3rd says ...

I'm pissed he's only running in South Carolina. And why isn't Keith Olbermann his running mate?

In these troubled times, he's a balm of insanity that dares the Right Wing to justify themselves by positioning himself as one of them.

comment #13

Jay T. says ...

I like Colbert... but I completely agree. Not to say I won't check out a skit of his on YouTube if it's making the rounds because he can still be pretty funny, but it does get a little old.

comment #14

Zimmergirl says ...

Hi, and welcome to land of We Don't Get the Joke!

Colbert's humor is not just that he plays this conservative talk show guy but it's how he lampoons everything in government, especially those in right wing media. That he chose to run is going to flip the race upside down the same way the Daily Show has flipped the way media covers politics upside down. And as Debra Winger says in Terms, "you're just too dumb to understand that kind of happiness."

comment #15

christian says ...

Gosh, Zimmergirl, I didn't "get" what Colbert was doing until you just pointed it out! I thought he was just parodying a Bill O' Reilly type to mock conservatives. But you say this is all a "joke"? Fascinating! And I thought eternal snark was getting old!

comment #16

the king says ...

Disagree with Jeff. Love Colbert. Not tired of it yet.

comment #17

corey3rd says ...

Colbert enters the campaign and Brownback drops out. The Colbert machine is in overdrive. Plus Colbert let America know that it's cheaper to run as a democrat in SC (free for 3,000 signatures vs. $25K for GOP).

comment #18

AJW says ...

He started to lose me when his wrist injury dominated the show for too long (funny to start, but it just didn't seem to go away), but he'll forever receive a free pass because of his White House Press Corp address.

In my opinion the show has turned too much attention onto the character 'Stephen Colbert' instead of using that character to explore American politics and expose politicians/lobbyists/pundits/etc. Even the interviews focus more on the Colbert character talking than the guest. His interview of William Kristol 1.5 years ago is a notable exception ("I'm speechless"):

http://www.comedycentral.com/motherload/player.jhtml?ml_video=&ml_collection=24445&ml_gateway=&ml_gateway_id=&ml_comedian=&ml_runtime=&ml_context=show&ml_origin_url=%2Fmotherload%2F%3Fml_collection%3D24445&ml_playlist=&lnk=&is_large=true

comment #19

Zimmergirl says ...

Christian, you get it on a superficial level but you seem to be missing the bigger point to it all. Colbert is very smart. What he is doing is not one-note. Anyone who watches his show, and gets it, knows this.

comment #20

Walter Sobchak says ...

"Colbert machine"? Come on. It can only be a "machine" if it's conservative. Get your shit together, already.

BTW... on a different note.... I'm looking forward to reading Jeffrey's review of "The Man From Plains". I imagine it will go something like this:
"Until I saw the brilliant doc "Man From Plains" I thought Jimmy Carter was a vastly underrated president and a great ex-president. Now I realize he's one of the greatest human beings to ever walk the planet, thanks to this excellent film."

comment #21

RoyBatty says ...

Completely disagree - "Stephen Colbert" the character is a brilliant creation of Stephen Colbert the actor that has forced me to eat my words regarding the show. I really didn't see how it could last, a parody of blow-hard, self-important right-wing talk show hosts that seemed better suited to a couple of specials at best.

Yesterday happened to be the 2 year anniversary, reminding me just how impressive Colbert is. I am also reminded of it everytime he throws out the perfect bon mot in reaction to something a guest has said just how gifted he is.

Caveat: I don't watch the show, I am not a "fan" of Colbert. But respect must be paid to someone who can improve IN CHARACTER and make it seem so smooth.

comment #22

christian says ...

Zimmergirl, one can get a joke and still not think it funny. As AJW pointed out, the emphasis is far too much on him during the interviews now. Instead of giving it to the guests he makes it about himself because in the end, Stewart and Colbert are comics and they just can't not bring a joke on no matter what.

I've seen the show many times and the overpraise of Colbert/Stewart is sort of superficial too in a hipper-than-thou manner that you demonstrate.

comment #23

BurmaShave says ...

Don't tell my girlfriend, but I'm in love with Zimmergirl. She's blinded me with science.

comment #24

Mr. Muckle says ...

I agree with JW. It's tedious to have to try and figure out what he's really saying, what with all the twists involved. Taking something Bush says, for example, which will be twisted about as far as you can twist anything, then adding a parody of Bill O (another twisted grandmaster) on top of it, and trying to get across what you really think is the truth in that manner, well, you must have more patience than I do for puzzles.

comment #25

RoyBatty says ...

For those interested, here he is completely out of character talking with Terry Gross:

http://www.npr.org/templates/story/story.php?storyId=15116383

comment #26

Sean says ...

Christian,

"Instead of giving it to the guests he makes it about himself"

You certainly don't *seem* to get the joke. The thing that you're criticizing about Colbert is one of the central conceits of the show: that *all* pundits are more interested in promoting themselves than any of their guests.

Criticizing him for that is like criticizing Sacha Baron Cohen (or even Borat -- covering myself, depending which "Colbert" you mean) for being anti-semetic.

"Stewart and Colbert are comics and they just can't not bring a joke on no matter what."

Yes, how dare they not make their comedy shows into serious talk shows where they talk serious issues with serious guests. It's almost as if they were on a comedy channel, not a 24 hour news network.

comment #27

Sean says ...

"It's tedious to have to try and figure out what he's really saying, what with all the twists involved."

Yeah, I prefer my comedy to be very very obvious too. Hope you're looking forward to 'The Comebacks' as much as I am (but just so you understand it, they're not *really* clips from other movies, the twist is that the scenes are actually PARODY... just in case you were confused, you seem to have trouble understanding jokes sometimes).

comment #28

AJW says ...

Sean, the point I was making about the interviews is that he has done very subversive ones where he USES the character (and the character's politics) to elicit brilliant moments (like the stammering Bill Kristol in the interview I linked to), but too often he simply projects himself onto the guest for 5-7 minutes for seemingly no purpose other than to show he can improvise in character (that's that Second City training). I'm sure part of it has to do with the guests and their leanings. However, in "Better Know a District" he's able to make both sides of the aisle look like fools, and not all of that is clever editing.

comment #29

insider77 says ...

Mmmm, sorry, gentlemen. I already saw this film. It's called Man of the Year, with Robin Williams. Not too bad, some good jokes.

http://www.imdb.com/title/tt0483726/

Seriously, the real world is resembling Barry Levinson's movies?

comment #30

christian says ...

Sean, AJW has it correct. Getting Bill Kristol speechless by bringing up his wretched PNAC history is fine. Perfect. But too often, he inserts himself in there in no more heavy a manner than Jay Leno. And it gets old.

I never found the character that funny to begin with. Sue me. Jeez. One thing that might be more obvious than Colbert are the fans who project more than they receive.

comment #31

Cadavra says ...

Cadavra to Wells: Are you sure you meant Irwin Corey and not Pat Paulsen?

comment #32

christian says ...

And speak of the devil, a post on this very subject:

I love that someone hates Bill O'Reilly so much that he has built an entire show, an entire on-screen persona, around the idea of mimicking and mocking that blowhard. Yet, to my particular viewing sensibilities, mock insufferable is still insufferable. Maybe even worse in some ways. Because a person who knows the difference, and plays upon it, should also know better than to subject us to an unrelenting version of it, even under the ironic covers of comedic relief and satirical resistance.

http://www.huffingtonpost.com/john-seery/stephen-colbert-for-dog-c_b_69027.html

comment #33

Mr. Muckle says ...

Sure Seanie, you think you get it. But do you think Colbert and Stewart actually think Bush and the neocons are funny? I don't find them funny, and I don't believe they do either, so underneath they actually have a point that's very serious. I would much prefer that media have the guts to come right out and call them lying, criminal bastards. Or you can beat around the bush if you like, and think you're accomplishing something.

comment #34

scooterzz says ...

while not really a colbert fan, i am a jon stewart fan and am really excited to see that, as of noon today, the entire nine year archive of 'the daily show' is available for free on line (like 'at the movies')...i hope this idea catches on with other shows....

comment #35

RoyBatty says ...

Starting to feel like the future president of the Stephen Colbert fan club, but a surreptitious surf of youtube for a particular Colbert moment (his appearance at the Emmy's with Stewart) brought me to his chat with Charley "I'm actually a pretty horrible interviewer" Rose.

In this clip, he deconstructs the character and confirms that the interview is his favorite part because he gets to fly without a net.

http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=6Sj-i10SH_s&NR=1