Colbert Moves On [Updated with correction]
[guest post by JVW]
For those of you brave folks who pay attention to the smarmy comedians who are apparently the new intellectual backbone of progressivism, you have undoubtedly heard that Stephen Colbert is wrapping up his supposedly successful show, “The Colbert Report,” and moving on to replace David Letterman as host of “The Late Show.” To mark the occasion, the Democratic Congressional Campaign Committee has created an online thank-you that the poor souls on their mailing list can access and sign. Powerline points out that even if Colbert (and his fellow pontificators Jon Stewart and John Oliver) want to pretend to be independent and non-partisan figures, this is a pretty good indication of the help that Democrats feel their party derives from hipper-than-thou progressive comedians.
On the other hand, look at it this way: When “The Colbert Report” debuted the Democrats had just recaptured both houses of Congress and the era of Hope and Change was only a year away. Today, as the set is struck for the last time, the GOP has run up two huge midterm election victories, Obama has been mostly exposed as an incompetent and a cipher, and the ideology of trickle-down bureaucracy created by academics, marketed by the media, and run by public employee union members is at its lowest ebb.
Hey, maybe the guy was working for our side all along.
[Update: Look at it this way: When “The Colbert Report” debuted the Democrats had just recaptured both houses of Congress and the era of Hope and Change was only a year away. Today, as the set is struck for the last time, the GOP has run up two huge midterm election victories, Obama has been mostly exposed as an incompetent and a cipher, and the ideology of trickle-down bureaucracy created by academics, marketed by the media, and run by public employee union members is at its lowest ebb.
Hey, maybe the guy was working for our side all along.
[Update: Art Deco reminds me that my math is wrong regarding the start of “The Colbert Report.” My bad. I think my point still mostly stands: Colbert started with the Dems ascending and ended with them in disarray. Thank you Stephen Colbert.]
– JVW
didn’t watch him before, not going to wath him in the future, and i have to go look in my SPAM file for DNCC e-mails…
think i’ll go fill bird feeders instead.
redc1c4 (34e91b) — 12/18/2014 @ 3:43 pmThe Colbert Report debuted in Oct. 2005. The salient political event was the media’s full court Katrina press. The Party of Crime did not recapture Congress for another year and the advent of the Great Tyro was 3 years in the future.
Art Deco (ee8de5) — 12/18/2014 @ 4:19 pm(Posting from a different computer on vacation today.)
I rarely watched and mostly at random. But the most wonderful part was always when he interviewed some kind of progressive-liberal and in the softest, slowest, most earnest, most softball way tossed them the standard easy conservative question that we would all like to ask them. And then watched them fumble it to their feet, kick it out into the street, run after it, and get knocked into a ditch that they themselves dug.
luagha (3a49b9) — 12/18/2014 @ 4:22 pmI very rarely saw it, but when I did it confused me.
as luagha mentions, The Colbert Show was supposed to mock Conservatives yet he
had uber-liberal guests on who would just flummox on standard basic questions a
Conservative would ask without rancor.
So who was he poking fun at?
(btw: i don’t recall every laughing during his show)
And I’m still confused about his Congressional testimony.
seeRpea (01f6d3) — 12/18/2014 @ 4:45 pmNever watched Colbert Report. Never. Not once. So he can wrap up his show, and my world continues on as before. I do recall his sister running for congress, though and her getting beat by Mark Sanford despite her brother’s “help” which was kind of interesting.
http://www.hollywoodreporter.com/news/mark-sanford-defeats-stephen-colberts-518916
elissa (a7c226) — 12/18/2014 @ 5:35 pmNever seen Colbert, haven’t seen Letterman in 15 years. Casa Gazzer will remain unmoved.
Gazzer (cb9ee2) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:08 pmHe was a Child Molestation Expert in a skit with Jon Stewart during the Michael Jackson trial. Nope, not kidding. That’s the last thing I remember from him.
nk (dbc370) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:10 pmpikachu has moved on too!
i was invited to a movie this weekend and i said no thank you … I’m not 100% sure yet but I think I’m boycotting those cowardly whores
and she was all like yes i understand
so we will eat the tasty sushi
i been sushi-averse, for the coasts, they are far away
but everyone says I need to get over it
happyfeet (831175) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:17 pmI’ve never been entertained by false and stupid parodies.
He makes Jon Stewart seem deep by comparison. But only by comparison.
Beldar (fa637a) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:21 pmme I only know colbert from when he was such a remarkably low-class bought and paid for mediaslut at the… white house correspondents’ dinner… 2006
other people have “notoriety” too for example justin bieber and tanning mom
i regard such notoriety as cheap and tawdry – a fundamentally failmerican currency what someday the civilized world will spurn
happyfeet (831175) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:23 pmI wish him nothing but the very worst and awful. He deserves it.
Rodney King's Spirit (8b9b5a) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:28 pmHe was kind of funny many years ago in “Strangers With Candy” that featured Amy Sedaris (I think) who is a very funny lady, but I watched his soon-to-be-gone show once for about 15 minutes. Not my cup o’ tea.
Colonel Haiku (2601c0) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:34 pmNever saw him or Stewart. Life is too short.
Mike K (90dfdc) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:53 pmWonder if Colbert will stay in character for the Late Show. Might not work out for him. Could be more like Jon Stewart doing the news talk circuit.
DejectedHead (5443cc) — 12/18/2014 @ 6:56 pmI have no idea why anyone would find him appealing as a TV personality. He is like the opposite of charismatic, not helped by his Poindexter type of face. Even if I liked his politics, I’d still feel the same way. Blah-and-bland Carson Daly is another one.
Mark (c160ec) — 12/18/2014 @ 8:51 pmI never watched him or any of the other lefty-late-nite-goofballs but one thing is strange to me: Who is the real Steven Colbert? And will this real Steven Colbert sell on national TV? It seems they are taking a big chance by turning Letterman’s gig over to a guy who played another guy on TV and that other guy is what his audience knows him as. I hope he fails and I am not sorry to see Letterman go who I never watched either. We shall see.
Ipso Fatso (10964d) — 12/18/2014 @ 9:14 pmArt Deco has pointed out my mistaken timeline, so I have updated the post. Thanks for the correction.
JVW (60ca93) — 12/18/2014 @ 9:18 pmWonder if Colbert will stay in character for the Late Show. Might not work out for him. Could be more like Jon Stewart doing the news talk circuit.
Sorry to not look it up, but my understanding is that he is not supposed to do his “Colbert Report” character for the new Letterman show. That was one of the agreements he made to take the helm. Tonight is supposed to be all about him “retiring” the Colbert character.
JVW (60ca93) — 12/18/2014 @ 9:19 pmMy lefty friends are verklempt about his leaving “The Colbert Report,” but extra excited about him replacing Letterman.
For 10 years he parodied O’Reilly. For 10 years he made a living doing a comedy skit worth two minutes on cable. For 10 years he made white people laugh about other white people on a show that only white people watched.
And now every white TV critic in America is having a white orgasm remembering when his white ass was playing the role of another white guy playing a role for money on their two shows that earn less viewer ratings than Olympic curling
Someone help me, how does this matter? I guess it does, because I’m posting about a show I never watched.
Ag80 (eb6ffa) — 12/18/2014 @ 9:32 pm