The Colbert Report

I watch Colbert on and off. I think the constant and loud cheering of the audience can get annoying after a while.   See 16 other replies

I tried that once. I'd hear the same rhetoric and utterly flawed logic Stephen uses (he does it on purpose, mind you), and get a bit of a giggle going... but then realize that the people on Fox actually *mean* it.And thats when i died a little inside.   See 16 other replies

HA HA HA HA. YES!!!   See 16 other replies

Some things to consider about Stephen Colbert and the character he portrays:He's played this character before, on the Daily Show of course, but also on other projects he's been involved with. In Wigfield his character is similar to the character he plays on the Report:http://www.amazon.com/review/R2XH1N0DQJVUM4/ref=cm_cr_rdp_perm=
So, it's not as though he just got roped into the character, it's something he's been loosely working on for years, that doesn't mean he wasn't still surprised by the success of the Report. And in Strangers with Candy (it's on hulu somewhere) he played an odd sort of guy too, also the type who was selfish and vain.But, I think the biggest motivation behind this character comes from the time Colbert spent at Hampden-Sydney College - which is:= "one of only three remaining traditional ALL-MALE colleges...mission is to "form good men and good citizens in an atmosphere of sound learning." … has one of the strictest Honor Codes... as a student, each man pledges that he will not lie, cheat, steal, nor tolerate those who do; this pledge is binding for life. The pledge takes place during a ceremony conducted in the campus church. Every student must pass the Rhetoric Proficiency Exam, a three-hour essay graded upon coherence and quality of argument, style presented, and grammatical correctness.... the college requires two Rhetoric classes that are taken the first two semesters......students are Southern, well-dressed, articulate, conservative. Many take part in campus traditions—jacket and tie to football games, greeting everyone met on campus, They are given “To Manner Born To Manners Bred: A Hip-pocket Guide to Etiquette for the Hampden-Sydney Man,” which covers everything from basic manners, how to greet and introduce people, how to respond to invitations, etc=(from wiki)I think the Report character is a satirical mash-up of the culture at Hampden-Sydney... food for thought for deconstructing the Report character   See 16 other replies

The difference is Stephen Colbert actually runs a mock-news-commentary show, with actual guests talking about actual things (in an actually unscripted way. Actual.)Its a horse of an entirely different color, to be compared with a scripted drama. its closest analogy is either Jon Stewart (minus the faux-persona) or Borat (minus the news).Actually, come to think of it, Stephen stole a page right out of Sacha Baron Cohen's playbook... pretend to be a characiture of someone so off-the-wall it couldn't be true, just to get a reaction... and hes made it work better than Sacha did! Ha!   See 16 other replies

Or they can go back to watching Fox News, and watch the same character portrayed by non-thespians!   See 16 other replies

That's kinda like saying:Why are Christopher Meloni and Mariska Hargitay from Law and Order: SVU so believable after all these years? They are willing to play troubled characters in stressful scenes in order to entertain and provoke thought. Someone should do something. They are over exposed. What about that computer guy and that occasional judge? When will they receive their time in the limelight?   See 16 other replies