Repository for media commentary on Colbert's performance......

[Gabi Hayes]

I was going to ask for just positive ones, which is what I hope to see, but I realize that there probably won't be too many, so it might be a good thing to have both types in one place

the negative ones can be analyzed for their fatuousity content

here's the E/P link, for starters, and it's a great article


http://www.editorandpublisher.com/eandp/news/article_display.jsp?vnu_content_id=1002425363

thanks to autorank for finding/linking it in his thread

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_mesg&forum=364&topic_id=1062307&mesg_id=1062307

[KeepItReal]

1. Maybe you should call this the "Lack Thereof" for media commentary

Only saw 2 articles on Yahoo! News (AP and Reuters) so far and only Reuters mentioned Stephen Colbert at all. Even then it didn't mention how scathing his speech was...only that it was satirical like his show.

Lets just watch the media try to send his performance down the Memory Hole.

[Gabi Hayes]

6. you're absolutely correct on that one. I've noticed a few links

from here to stories that either downplay Colbert, or outright ignore his presence

memory hole it is

[Swamp Rat]

2. I want a I want a copy of the entire performance (Quicktime movie)

to download! The Crooks and Liars video is incomplete and very tiny.

:bounce:

[Gabi Hayes]

5. I taped it, and can burn a DVD at school...want me to mail a copy?

I don't know how to link a file like that to the web

and won't CSPAN be running it online?

[Alamom]

3. Does anyone know if C-span will replay/rerun (today)? I've

read most of the threads and some say it will and some say it was already around midnight.

We missed it and would love to see the whole show.

TIA

[Gabi Hayes]

4. it's coming on in about ten minutes!

listed as 5:05 AM EDT

unless it was PM

[Alamom]

7. Thanks so much. I'll check. Just saw on another thread , 11:30

EDT. I think the post means a.m. (Sunday morning)

So many threads, so little time. :)

[Alamom]

9. Thank you, just announced, Coming up next on Cspan. n/t

[rucky]

8. From USA Today - Mc News (good news!)

"Then Colbert, host of The Colbert Report on Comedy Central, kept everyone laughing, poking fun at all sorts of topics, but with an overall theme of Bush."

...

"Colbert's humor was so satirical and silly that left some people bewildered and others tearing up with laughter."

http://www.usatoday.com/news/washington/2006-04-30-bush-dinner_x.htm

[Gabi Hayes]

10. thanks for the get

''silly?''

like the POTUS?

did they say how that creep did his entire shtick by demeaning himself as a MAN, and the office of the most powerful person in the world as inhabited by a witless cretin?

will the media pick up on how shameful that is

[Gin]

14. our Joke of a leader........... played himself....................A joke!

how appropriate.

[Neil Lisst]

11. Fox News mentioned it but didn't play any of Colbert's statements

[LiberalPartisan]

12. This line, for me, was by far the best:

Addressing the reporters, he said, "You should spend more time with your families, write that novel you've always wanted to write. You know, the one about the fearless reporter who stands up to the administration. You know-- fiction."

[Alamom]

13. Colbert - Underscores Irony's Power and Delicacy

http://www.themoderatevoice.com/posts/1146380087.shtml

Colbert's White House Correspondent Dinner Performance Underscores Irony's Power And Delicacy
by Joe Gandelman


The scene: The White House Correspondent Dinner. The time: right after President George Bush put in a boffo performance next to a topnotch Bush impersonator. It was a hard act to follow.
>

What followed was a study in contrasting satirical forms — the easier task with one form (the one liner, the visual, the lines dependent on joke construction and timing)...and the tougher task with the other (heavy irony, which relies on shared assumptions)...
>


Did Colbert bomb? Absolutely not. But he'll likely have some verbal bombs aimed at him, particularly from some radio and cable talk show hosts.

Bush's performance will be re-run on some shows for the next few days due to its entertainment value; Colbert's will be re-run and discussed because of how it was received by some in the audience, because it's dagger-sharp message has some news value and because he was willing to take a risk at doing the kind of satire he did...where he did it.

[Gabi Hayes]

15. well, that's one more, anyway. looks like it's being ignored in most

circles, while dumbo's embarrassing display is getting a lot of positive comment

shameful, but expected

down the memory hole for Colbert, it would seem

[Gabi Hayes]

16. har....nothing to do with the speech, but some snips from his show:

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042900126.html

Colbert: What does it feel like to represent California's Canada?

Hooley: I represent Oregon.

Colbert: Right, which is the Canada of California. If you prefer, it is Washington's Mexico, if you want to put it that way.

Hooley: It is a fabulous state to represent.

Colbert: Your state is one of the few that has a medical-marijuana program.

Hooley: We do. It was something that the voters voted on.

Colbert: And you think those voters should just get what they want?

Hooley: Sometimes I disagree with them, but I respect their right and their vote has to count.

Colbert: Are you high right now?

...............

Rep. Eliot L. Engel (D-N.Y.)

Colbert: Did you take any money from Jack Abramoff?

Engel: No, I never met Jack Abramoff.

Colbert: Okay, how much money?

Engel: I never took money from Jack Abramoff. I do think the Jack Abramoff thing --

Colbert: Which way do you pronounce it?

Engel: I've heard both.

Colbert: Why a mustache?

Engel: Kind of makes me more sophisticated.

Colbert: Congressman, may I stroke your mustache?

Engel: No.

Colbert: May I comb it?


..........................


Rep. John L. Mica (R-Fla.)

Colbert: Do you have to take your toupee off when you go through security?

Mica: No.

Colbert: Can you imagine something like that running free on an airplane? . . .

[Gabi Hayes]

17. typical hackjob from the Post, which misses, in its miniscule

coverage, the best line regarding Plame/Wilson

"Listen to Stephen Colbert, of "The Colbert Report," cracking wise about how he could be the new presidential press secretary, because, when it comes to the media, "I have nothing but contempt for those people." And then show a little video clip of what his first day as press secretary would be like. (Hint: not very successful.) The humor's supposed to be topical, and so we laughed when Colbert said, "If anyone needs anything from your tables, just speak slowly and clearly into your numbers and someone from the NSA will be there shortly." We're not sure if Valerie Plame laughed, though. Or Karl Rove."

that's all they had about Colbert, with several paragraphs about the dueling dubyas, with NARY a mention about how insipid he was made to look to the world

http://www.washingtonpost.com/wp-dyn/content/article/2006/04/29/AR2006042901712.html

[Gabi Hayes]

18. google news on "Colbert+dinner"

http://news.google.com/nwshp?hl=en&tab=wn&q=colbert%20dinner

[Gabi Hayes]

19. more down the memory hole stuff, thanks to a new poster

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1065021

[Gabi Hayes]

20. blitzer thought it was funny....thanks to nightowwl

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1064654

[Gabi Hayes]

21. a positive review, thanks to leftchick

He also presented an audition tape for the position of Press Secretary. I was really surprised/happy to see Helen Thomas putting on a great show in a special appearance and I laughed numerous times (some favorite parts: "NOOOOOOO! NOOOO!"; key-fumbling; Karl & Stephen). It looked like something pulled right out of The Colbert Report. This was a lot more light-hearted than the preceding speech, so I expected the audience to be hooting with laughter once it ended. How wrong I was. Helen Thomas was in tears, but everyone else was just clapping politely. No cheers, no standing ovation. Poor Stephen... I wanted to crawl into the TV and give him a hug.

But y'know what? Stephen Colbert -- not character-Colbert, but the real guy -- has BALLS. Seriously. That took massive brass steel ADAMANTIUM balls to do. Part of me wished that he didn't stay in character to save himself the pain, but another part of me is really glad he did that. He took his truthiness to the belly of the beast and he should be commended for that.

To Mr. Colbert: I, and the rest of the Colbert Nation, love you.

http://www.tvsquad.com/2006/04/30/stephen-colbert-at-th...

[Gabi Hayes]

22. how does one garner blog responses to Colbert?

not having much luck there

firedoglake has something, but no link yet

don't everybody beat the door down responding...don't think the server can take it

[Gabi Hayes]

23. a few blogs

http://blondesense.blogspot.com/2006/04/you-cant-count-on-press-to-be-honest.html



Bush lampooned himself at the Press Corp Dinner, but the best part of the evening was when Steven Colbert got to lampoon bush, his staff and the news media. The president and the mrs. were not amused. Perhaps they didn't want to face the truth. Good. From Editor and Publisher:

Noting those low ratings, Colbert advised, "The glass isn't half empty - it's 68% empty. There's still some fluid in there, but I wouldn't drink it."

He attacked those in the press who claim that the shake-up at the White House was merely re-arranging the deck chairs on the Titanic. “This administration is soaring, not sinking,” he said. “They are re-arranging the deck chairs--on the Hindenburg.”

Colbert told Bush he could end the problem of protests by retired generals by refusing to let them retire. He compared Bush to Rocky Balboa in the “Rocky” movies, always getting punched in the face—“and Apollo Creed is everything else in the world.”

..................

http://blog.thedemocraticdaily.com/?p=2819

mostly a rehash of the E/P article, but with comments, as well as a couple of links to wingnut sites who didn't find the humor in colbert's presentation

''Watching this group unable to laugh at what we found hilarious underscores his point. They can’t see themselves and they can’t laugh at themselves. Why should they? The rest of us are only using humor to alleviate the incredible pain of what this administration is doing - with the subtle blessings of the White House Correspondents (Helen Thomas and a few others excepted).

Eventually, the truth in Colbert’s lines and the reaction outside the ballroom may make it’s way into the minds of those who sat stunned during the performance.''

[Gabi Hayes]

24. newshounds weighs in....they watch Fox so we don't have to

http://www.newshounds.us/2006/04/29/stephen_colbert_you_are_my_hero.php

[Gabi Hayes]

25. AMPOL Journal loved Colbert, and linked to DU for the transcript!

http://www.americanpolitics.com/20060430punditpap.html

The highlight of the evening, without doubt, was Colbert's jaw-dropping half hour at the dais. Colbert, assuming the character of Colbert Report host, roasted most of the attendees, from the President to Antonin Scalia to the lazy, play-along press corps, with some of the most withering, hilariously condemnatory comic material we've ever seen emanating from Washington. The festivities ended with an hilarious videotaped segment of "White House Secretary Steven Colbert" in action—and then pursued by a threatening press stalker (none other than Helen Thomas). The audience, who were probably expecting something along the lines of Mark Russell, were laughing in a way that sounded muted and uncomfortable, and the cutaways confirmed that impression. Just after Colbert finished, both the former Texas governor and his wife looked visibly miffed as he left the dais.

Colbert not only lampooned and humiliated Bush and his handlers, but the lapdog media that has propped him up—in public, live, and for a national audience. It was his, and C-SPAN's, finest hour. And you won't hear cable news talking about it, because Colbert rubbed their nose in their failure.

Best. Correspondents'. Dinner. Evah!

[Gabi Hayes]

26. more here from bigbearjohn

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=view_all&address=364x1066497

[Gabi Hayes]

27. add craig crawford to the list of those who get it

http://crawfordslist.blogspot.com/