The Colbert “Bump”

I have been a fan of Stephen Colbert since his first Comedy Central show, Exit 57, back in my High School days, but only a fan in the sense that I new of him and liked what I had seen and if I ran into him while channel surfing I would stop and give whatever he was on a shot. I must admit however that until my friend Dave Actually sat me down and made me watch the first 3 episodes of Strangers with Candy, a short lived but cult hit Comedy Central series that mocked the 80’s T.V. After School Special genre, I didn’t know his last name was Colbert. Now I certainly do know and so does the ‘Colbert Nation’ of fans he has acquired since his time as a Daily Show correspondent (which is where his egotistical ultra-neo conservative super-Christian persona was born) and now with his amazingly successful “Colbert Report”, I have become a devout fan of his comedy brilliance. He has turned blazing political and cultural sarcasm into a whole new genre of comedy; he is unendingly dedicated to the character and the intent, asking guests such mockingly extremist right wing questions as: “Why do you hate the troops?” or making statements like: “I can’t believe they’ve called off WW III. We were this close to Jesus coming back!” This non-stop satirical extremism shins the spotlight on how ludicrous politics and the Neo-cons in particular have become. What is even more spectacular in regard to is dedication to the character is the fact that out-of-touch politicians (all of them basically) make gigantic mistakes thinking that he is being serious about anything on his show. Tom Delay actually used a Colbert quote, saying in a press e-mail that “(Greenwald) Crashed and burned under the pressure of Colbert’s hard-hitting questions, like “Who hates America more, you or Michael Moore?”

But of course the most incredible example of this was his staggering speech at the White House Press Corps Dinner (which he was invited to speak at for some insane reason – see “out-of-touch” above). As he stood two seats from the President of the United States, he brutally roasted (via his conservative extremist persona) Mr. Bush for what seemed like an eternity saying such things as: "I stand by this man. I stand by this man because he stands for things. Not only for things, he stands on things. Things like aircraft carriers and rubble and recently flooded city squares. And that sends a strong message: that no matter what happens to America, she will always rebound—with the most powerfully staged photo ops in the world.” Let that sink in. He actually said that. Like a jester in the king’s court, the only one who can get away with telling the truth.

In a stroke of bizarre irony, all of the Congressman who appeared on his show in his “Better Know a District” series, no matter what he tricked them into saying (“I enjoy cocaine very much.” – Rep. Robert Wexler (D-Fla.)) were elected, even though the media predicted that an appearance on the Colbert Report was a step towards political death (see “out-of-touch” above), and as this media myth circulated Congressman began to turn down his interview requests. Those who turned him down were not elected. As with the Daily Show before it, you will now see a big shift as more and more politicians will now want to appear on his show believing that they too will gain from what is being called the “Colbert Bump.” It is impressive to see his show evolve in this way and a great sign that all is not lost in this country of ours. Men like him can motivate change through comedy and we should all take heed.

But I was motivated to speak on Colbert now in my blog due to what I feel is the pinnacle of his writing talent so far. Last night’s post election episode killed! If you did not see it please try to catch a rerun or download from iTunes (it’s worth owning). Beginning the show in utter denial, talking exclusively about the 2 big stories of the day, that it rained in New York and that Brittney Spears may be getting divorced, he slowly but surely devolved into a state of hopeless rage, declaring “The people have spoken, and apparently they’re tired of freedom. The terrorists have won everybody. Ok terrorists, here’s your cake.” He then produces a huge cake with Osama smiling on the top holding a bomb, takes a bite of it and says, “Tastes like surrender.” This was brilliant and it continued from there to his single greatest rant ever.. “You’re the ones who made this bed. Now you’re going to have to move over so a gay couple can sleep in it. Tomorrow you are going to wake up in a brave new world. A world where the Constitution gets trampled by an army of terrorist clones created in a stem-cell research lab run by homosexual doctors that sterilize their instruments over burning American flags!! Where tax and spend Democrats take all of your hard-earned money and use it to buy electric cars for National Public Radio and teach evolution to illegal immigrants. Oh, yeah, and everybody’s HIGH!!!!”

This was the perfect summation of all the extremist paranoia that exists in our country today. While we of his Nation cheered its’ irony, there are those out there (such as Tom Delay) who cheered because they agreed with every word, literally. Stay Strong America.

I would say more but you really must see it for yourself. All hail Colbert!