"I've come to help you defeat Sauron.

November 8, 2005 1:53 PM

Colbert Nation,the Stephen Colbert "fan site". Definitely read Stephen Colbert fan-fiction, the highlight of which is the Middle-Earth fan-fic. It's a parody of a fan site, apparently written and updated by the Colbert Report's graphic designer. It doesn't matter though, even though my cool side cringes at laughing so hard at something with a marketing budget. Pepsi Blue my ass, Colbert's funnier than I thought.
posted by geoff. (55 comments total)

Truthie...
posted by SweetJesus at 1:57 PM on November 8, 2005

I've really tried to like the Colbert Report, but the whole show seems to me like it's trying too hard. It has its moments, to be sure, but ... meh. Daily Show is still leaps and bounds ahead of it, IMHO. I suppose this is why I don't find the linked site particularly funny either.
posted by mr_crash_davis at 1:59 PM on November 8, 2005

I loved Colbert on the Daily Show, and I think The Colbert Report has potential, but it really needs a lot of work. The "I'm really awesome" joke is a bit tired. His character doesn't work for a full thirty minutes.
posted by bondcliff at 2:02 PM on November 8, 2005

Stephen Colbert is the funniest man on television.
posted by The Jesse Helms at 2:03 PM on November 8, 2005

It has it's moments so far. I'm willing to give it a little time to find itself.

Colbert does seem to stumble on his lines a lot, though. Seems odd for someone whose The Daily Show persona was based so much on being the absurd straight man (that being said, the time he lost it while deep throating a banana when he was reporting on a story about Prince Charles having homosexual affairs with his butler or some shit like that...probably my favorite The Daily Show moment ever.)
posted by Cyrano at 2:04 PM on November 8, 2005

The Colbert Report is much like Saturday Night Live: running a joke that worked in small doses into the ground.
posted by goatdog at 2:21 PM on November 8, 2005

The first week or so of the Colbert Report really sucked, I only sticked with it because I had nothing better to watch between the Daily Show and Charlie Rose --- he did really hit a stride here lately, especially with the Ken Burns American Experience parody. He's definitely finding what works and what doesn't (constant self-promotion, doing those fake interviews with popular figures). His interviews are definitely the best.
posted by geoff. at 2:21 PM on November 8, 2005

It has its moments, to be sure.

Stephen Colbert is a very funny man, but the show itself isn't quite there yet. It seems a little thin and spare.

Chris Morris kinda did this persona better, at least in a longer format like this.
posted by Sticherbeast at 2:21 PM on November 8, 2005

even though my cool side cringes at laughing so hard at something with a marketing budget.

why? funny is funny, politics be damned.
posted by jonmc at 2:39 PM on November 8, 2005

"His character doesn't work for a full thirty minutes."....

Our thoughts exactly! but I also agree that the Ken Burns episode showed a bit of hope..

Now, make it short segments and stick it on the Daily Show... what?? oh, never mind...
posted by HuronBob at 2:46 PM on November 8, 2005

I wonder if the show would be more successful as a once-a-week (hour-long?) program, Sunday night at 11? Friday night? It has a lot of great stuff, but a lot of it can really get run into the ground with daily repetition.
posted by clgregor at 2:48 PM on November 8, 2005

Stephen was nonplussed. "Don't hide behind your precious political double-talk, Gandalf. Let's call a spade a spade: I know about the Ringwraiths -- who will soon become the Nazgul - not to mention Gollum, Saruman, and Shelob. Just saying 'dangers' and 'dark powers' doesn't accomplish anything; you can't fight a war against abstract nouns."

Nice post.
posted by bardic at 2:56 PM on November 8, 2005

I fast-forward through the interviews, but the rest is brilliant.
posted by smackfu at 3:00 PM on November 8, 2005

In addition to his televised work, Stephen has penned three best-selling books. These include Don't Buy This Book if You Don't Have the Balls; Silent Night: Reassessing the Sociological Imprint of the Tiananmen Square Massacre; and Don't Buy This Book if You Don't Have the Balls - for Kids.

Come on, that's funny. This is an all-important element to the show. Give it time.
posted by fungible at 3:01 PM on November 8, 2005

So, metafilter, would you say George W Bush is a great president, or our greatest president?
posted by Mach5 at 3:15 PM on November 8, 2005

I'll agree that we should give the show more time, but as is it's simply too much of one guy talking. That's what the show is, more or less, one guy talking for 30 minutes. He needs some support, some field "reporters" just like the DS.

Stephen Colbert is funny as hell, but if he doesn't change that show, I fear the worst.
posted by zardoz at 3:17 PM on November 8, 2005

Colbert is hysterical and I hope he gets the time to let the show develop into something a bit more natural. I never thought that there could be too much Colbert, but half an hour a night of uninterrupted Colbert might actually be too much. He might benefit from a corespondent or two. Of course, then it'd just be "the Other Daily Show Starring Steven Colbert". But for all of it's odd pacing, when he hits it's comedy gold and that'll keep me coming back.
posted by Slack-a-gogo at 3:20 PM on November 8, 2005

Cobert is funny, but sems uncomfortable on the show. It's when he's doing the interviews that he's actually himself. He needs to drop the parody and anything having to do with mentioning or including the help onto the show. They really detract from it.

Also, that webpage was not funny.
posted by jsavimbi at 3:24 PM on November 8, 2005

What Colbert is doing is a lot harder than what Liebowitz Stewart is doing: its mostly him talking through the whole thing, while Stewart gets to run clips and reports by his Senior ______ Correspondents. So it's not surprising that he trips up more. Stewart's also not doing a character, he's being himself, so it's OK for him to laugh or whatever.

I agree the pomposity schtick does feel forced. Part of the problem with the Colbert Report is that, just like TDS is mocking the news, the Colbert Report is mocking the self-important cable-news commentators like O'Reilly. So to really get the joke, you've got to watch O'Reilly. Oy. This is part of what makes the interviews so tough--either they should be honest interviews, or they should be total performance pieces where the guest is in on the gag (his interviews with Stone Phillips and Ken Burns were more like the latter, and worked better because of it, IMO). For the most part, they've been somewhere in the middle.

I do think the show is getting its legs, and goodness knows there's enough madness in the world for 2 half-hour shows to be kept busy making fun of it.
posted by adamrice at 3:24 PM on November 8, 2005

It's not quite as polished as the Daily Show, but it's still pretty good. I realize this is not saying much, but it is much funnier than the tedious Mind of Mencia or the inexplicable show with Adam Corolla. That makes it the third funniest show on Comedy Central (behind TDS and South Park). Not bad.

He still flubs his lines at least once a show, but every show I've seen to date has at least one moment or two that out-funnies the Daily Show. It's flawed, yes, but it's worthwhile watching, and it is getting better.
posted by psmealey at 3:27 PM on November 8, 2005

I've only seen one show, via bT, so take this with a grain of salt. When watching TDS I always used to think that a magazine show with the various correspondents would work. Instead of O'Reilly (or Koppel?), they should be trying to emulate 20/20, Dateline, and Primetime. That way they could rotate people through without wearing the audience and character out.
posted by dhartung at 3:32 PM on November 8, 2005

Stephen shook his head slowly. "Mr. President, with all due respect, you're the world's biggest idiot."

"But I'm the President of the United States!"

Stephen narrowed his eyes. "How about you quit being such a moron."

Abraham Lincoln hung his head. He knew when he was beat. The man from the future was too good.

Hell, yeah. The one bad thing about him having his own show is that he's not doing This Week In God anymore. That was always my favorite segment and Corddry just isn't up to snuff...
posted by brundlefly at 3:37 PM on November 8, 2005

Recently I started checking out at 11:20, because that's usually when Jon Stewart brings out his guest -- most of the time I'm not terribly interested. I watched the Colbert Report yesterday and I couldn't help but think "one Daily Show a day is enough, isn't it?" Then I went back to playing GT4.
posted by clevershark at 3:45 PM on November 8, 2005

Definitely miss This Week In God. Colbert's field interviews are great, though. "I'll just put you down for great. They'll understand."

"...the time he lost it while deep throating a banana..."

Anybody got a clip of that?
posted by odinsdream at 3:54 PM on November 8, 2005

It's when he's doing the interviews that he's actually himself.

Yes, and...

he did really hit a stride here lately, especially with the Ken Burns American Experience parody.

Yes. Also:

When watching TDS I always used to think that a magazine show with the various correspondents would work. Instead of O'Reilly (or Koppel?), they should be trying to emulate 20/20, Dateline, and Primetime.

See, now I tend to watch the first part of TDS, skip through the correspondant parts and watch the interviews. But, you know, different strokes...

But you're wrong and probably a Commie to boot.
posted by Cyrano at 4:00 PM on November 8, 2005

Am I the only one dissapointed that the LOTR fic didn't get slashy? I mean, given what John Stewart said about Colbert when Vigo Mortensen was on a few weeks ago, I thought for sure...but, no. Sad.
posted by redbeard at 4:02 PM on November 8, 2005

The Colbert Report is much like Saturday Night Live: running a joke that worked in small doses into the ground.

I'd say it's more like a Saturday Night Live movie: taking a joke that works as part of a show and trying to stretch it into a format that doesn't work.

I really like Stephen Colbert, but I don't care for his persona on the show, and the schtick is getting old for me. The Stone Phillips bit was really funny, but it made it hard for me to take Mr. Phillips seriously when I later saw him do a newscast.

With this show and Steve Carrell's success with The Office and The 40 Year Old Virgin, I hope the Daily Show doesn't become just a place where people just pass through trying to become huge on their own. Like Saturday Night Live in its heyday, The Daily Show would be a high point on most people's career, more than a springboard to something bigger. I don't want more crap like Coneheads and A Night at the Roxbury.
posted by kirkaracha at 4:03 PM on November 8, 2005

I'm with dhartung and clevershark -- I've never stayed for the interview in 3 years unless it is a superstar coming on like Gore or something.
posted by Heywood Mogroot at 4:05 PM on November 8, 2005

I dislike the schtick about Colbert walking over to meet the interview subject, who is already seated. The Rude overcomes the Funny there, IMO. Nevertheless, I think the show has strong potential, once it can climb above the initial turbulence.
posted by Triode at 4:11 PM on November 8, 2005

I remember a day in America when our laughs didn't come from our brains: they came from our stomachs. Sometimes just north of the stomach, in the spleen area, or even on rare occasions the gall bladder-- but never the brain. Your Ivy (non-Yale) League educations are destroying the funny. Wake up, America! Let's go back to the old days: let's go back to Bob Saget and baseballs to the nuts. Let's go back to half-hours of zaniness involving an orphan and two guys who banged the same chick in the back of a Dairy Queen Brazier one sweaty July evening. Let's go back to cross-dressing. Yes, you heard me: cross-dressing. And none of that political cocktail-party wink-wink "Hoover wore a boa once" crap either. Big burly American men wearing dainty pink negligees, just like our founding fathers did.

We're on to you, you nambla-pambla far-left-wing green-apple-martini-loving bastards. You want your comedy smart, and snappy, and relevant? Too damn bad! You can take your comicial activism and shove it right down your laugh-hole. You want wit? Go to Canada and enjoy a life of free health care and endless re-runs of Kids in the Hall. Me and the rest of a proud America will stay right here and wait for the rise of the next great comedian to put on a turban and hold envelopes to his head. Because turbans were funny in America then, and they're funny in America now. And don't you forget it.
posted by eamondaly at 4:14 PM on November 8, 2005

adamrice gets it!
posted by jaronson at 4:16 PM on November 8, 2005

...but eamondaly wins.
posted by jaronson at 4:19 PM on November 8, 2005

Flawless victory.
posted by Simon! at 4:33 PM on November 8, 2005

The Rude overcomes the Funny there...

Are you kidding? His guests get a kick out of it, that's my favorite part! I always wonder how long he has left them there to stare at the painting of him...standing in front of a painting of...himself. Genius!!
posted by mr.curmudgeon at 4:55 PM on November 8, 2005

Daily Show is still leaps and bounds ahead of it, IMHO.

I remember when Jon Stewart took over from what's-his-head -- Kilbourne? -- and kept doing a lot of the same stuff. Took a while for them to get their footing. I'll check in once and a while to see how this new show is shaping up.
posted by davejay at 5:20 PM on November 8, 2005

You know what? The first two weeks of the Colbert Report were WAY better than the first two weeks of The Daily when John first took it over. Nobody loves TDS more than me, but quite honestly, those first few weeks when he first took over from Craig K. -- it pretty much sucked. Things take time to gel, so I say give it The Colbert Report some time to grow.

That said, if I worked at Comedy Central, I woulda made TCR a Friday night show that filled in on the night that The Daily was off the air. But hey, I don't work at Comedy Central, so what the hell do I know?

As it is, my favorite part is in the opening credits, when the world's worst animated eagle flys by, and SC is standing there waiving the 6 foot tall flag. That shit is totally grippy.
posted by spilon at 5:36 PM on November 8, 2005

I second the request for the deep-throating banana clip. Anyone?
posted by Kloryne at 5:44 PM on November 8, 2005

TDS's This Week In God segs were best when it was called God Stuff with the legendary John Bloom, aka Joe Bob Briggs. Still pretty darn good though.
posted by dakotadusk at 5:49 PM on November 8, 2005

I second the request for the deep-throating banana clip. Anyone?

Thirding! It's one of my favorite TDS moments, that and the one where Colbert manages to list a whole bunch of complicated insurgent names...only to trip up pronouncing the word "urn", and John calls him on it.

"Ladies and Gentlemen, I think our Senior Iraqi corespondent just gave me the finger!"

Actually, if anyone has a clip of that, I'd be grateful.
posted by kosher_jenny at 6:06 PM on November 8, 2005

Colbert does seem to stumble on his lines a lot, though.

It is amazing how completely that spoils the funniest line.
posted by dreamsign at 6:14 PM on November 8, 2005

Just give it some time, naysayers. Stewart didn't come into his own right away, either. And Colbert's got plenty of comedy genius to make this work.
posted by blendor at 6:21 PM on November 8, 2005

Oh, and yes - eamondaly wins.
posted by blendor at 6:25 PM on November 8, 2005

let's go back to Bob Saget

The real Bob Saget, as opposed to the Full House incarnation? Ok.
posted by dreamsign at 7:29 PM on November 8, 2005

I love Colbert's interviews. They are pretty much just improv. So many of the guests are stunned by it, like a deer in the headlights.

Can't say as I like TDS interviews.

And I miss the good God Reports.
posted by five fresh fish at 7:39 PM on November 8, 2005

We finally got the show in Canada yesterday and it was funny. I just don't want it to take up all of his time. The audiobook version of Wigfield he co-authored and did most of the reading for was hilarious. He was the best part of Strangers with Candy, Harvey Birdman is great, and I'm seriously considering buying Sesame Street All Star A-Z for my sister's kids just in hopes that he yells at Canadians for pronouncing Z wrong.
posted by Gary at 8:06 PM on November 8, 2005

It reminds me of Letterman/Chris Elliot "The Man Under the Stairs" routine.
posted by Balisong at 9:01 PM on November 8, 2005

I can't believe no one's mentioned Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure.
posted by O9scar at 9:02 PM on November 8, 2005

Yeah, Kilbourne. Took a long while to get the show rolling after that goof.
Kilbourne disrespected Lemmy dudes. Lemmy. I've got no use for Kilbourne.

That's a nice photo on the right on the front page of Colbert's website though.
I'm wondering, was the decision to not "Bush up" the photo flightsuit-wise a question of taste or accuracy?

Just asking the tough questions with my huge brass balls. I'm a big, big fan.
posted by Smedleyman at 9:52 PM on November 8, 2005

I think this show is more solid than the flailing, less-funny-it-seems TDS, of which I watch religiously.
posted by Mach3avelli at 11:21 PM on November 8, 2005

I really didn't anticipate the lackluster reviews here. I've been watching every episode and predominately enjoying it. There are parts that don't yet work, but when something does it hits in a big way for me. I was afraid that it would be horrible, but thus far I think it has been quite funny.

How many people would have the "balls" to call Rosa Parks "overrated" the day after she died? I think it has room to grow, but I think they are finding out how to do this pretty well.
posted by herting at 11:38 PM on November 8, 2005

hit or miss, more hit than miss.
I like his interviews MUCH more than Stewart's.

Colbert is basically freed from the fear of losing his guests that seems to keep Stewart in a sycophantic fetal position. Love the Daily Show, but the interviews are it's achille's heel, to my watching.

I love Colbert raising his arms and pandering to his audience when going to interview his guest. It is a fine line to walk, the megalomania-entertainment, but I think Colbert will find the way to make it work, or drop it as dead baggage.

There's a lot of parody on his show that's probably falling on deaf ears, who take it as a given that news should be summed up in rapid-fire alliterative countdowns. (to use one example).

And yes, TDS when Stewart first took over wasn't any great shakes. But he was dismantling the format people knew and liked, so of course the transition would ring false. I was already a fan of the show, but Kilbourne could get more cocky than Colbert's getting accused of playing, so I don't really miss him.
posted by Busithoth at 6:35 AM on November 9, 2005

I can't believe no one has even mentioned the wørd (I hope that slash-o comes through for non-mac users) yet...

The rant is hit and miss for me, but the talking points on the right are hilarious, and for me this is the most successful parody the show has come up with -- it's funny for skewering O'Reilly and it's funny because it's funny.

I think the show has to grow into itself (I've been wondering if Colbert will eventually drop the O'Reilyesque persona), but so fa it's pretty good.
posted by illovich at 7:02 AM on November 9, 2005

I should have said the a href="http://www.comedycentral.com/shows/the_colbert_report/videos/the_word/index.jhtml">the wørd.

Sorry.
posted by illovich at 7:14 AM on November 9, 2005

Lol, I should preview more often.

the wørd
posted by illovich at 7:15 AM on November 9, 2005

That's my favorite part too, illovich.
posted by whatnot at 8:19 AM on November 9, 2005