Colbert: Comedy Rambo "Dismantling American Society From The Inside"

[babylonsister]

Comedy Rambo
A gladiator of mockery, Stephen Colbert is dismantling American society from the inside
By DAVID BIANCULLI
November 14, 2007 5:17:56 PM




Misunderestimate Stephen Colbert at your peril. Just because he is an unassuming, bespectacled physical specimen whose business cards may read “TV comedian” is no reason to dismiss him as a lightweight funnyman. Since the very night he launched his own series on Comedy Central in 2005, Colbert has thrown some vicious elbows, and demonstrated a bravura that dares his enemies to, in paraphrasing his ironic hero George W. Bush, bring it on.

As both a humorist and a political and media commentator, Colbert is a stealth bomber. A gladiator of mockery. A comedy Rambo. He’s the most dangerous satirist out there right now, and neither the writers’ strike nor his failure to get on the presidential-primary ballot in his native state of South Carolina will stall his advance for long.

In fact, Colbert has reached such revered status at this juncture that even in a period of relative inactivity — not doing a show, not running for president — people are talking about him, wondering about him, and waiting for his next move. He’s the Al Gore of Comedy Central: even if he can’t or won’t run for office, he is nevertheless building anticipation. (Can a Nobel Prize be far off?)

And, like Gore, he knows it. The question is, now that he knows he has the public’s attention and the media transfixed, where will he strike next? Or is not striking, and laying back, the smarter play? Colbert is nothing if not smart, and that’s why you have to watch him — even if, at least right now on TV, you can’t.

He’s dangerous not only because his wit is so sharp, but because, in a clearly defined Red State–Blue State landscape, he unpredictably cuts both ways. When he broke his wrist in July before a show taping, Colbert turned it into a satiric opportunity by starting a campaign against “wrist violence.” He started wearing and distributing what he called a “WristStrong bracelet,” a red plastic oval similar to — and gently poking fun at — Lance Armstrong’s cancer-fighting yellow LiveStrong bracelets and the breast-cancer-awareness pink bracelets. He got Katie Couric of CBS and Brian Williams of NBC to wear one, then generated a comic mini-scandal when ABC’s Charles Gibson wouldn’t.

Poking fun at cancer awareness and liberal charities? Who is this guy? But then, after spending months collecting signatures on his cast — not only those of Couric and Williams, but of Bill O’Reilly, Tim Russert, Nancy Pelosi, and others — Colbert auctioned it on eBay in September. It sold for $17,200, and the proceeds went to returning war veterans.

more...

http://thephoenix.com/article_ektid51190.aspx

[underpants]

1. He won an election just the other day....well tied

http://www.democraticunderground.com/discuss/duboard.php?az=show_topic&forum=132&topic_id=3715233

[BrklynLiberal]

2. Wow! Great pic of Colbert!!!!!

:rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl: :rofl:

[annabanana]

3. eeeK.. I LOVE it!

(good article too)

[rocktivity]

4. Running for president of the United States is hard enough,

especially when you aren’t allowed on the ballot of the one state to which you applied — and harder still when your very pulpit, a post-prime-time cable TV show, is stopped cold by a Hollywood writers’ strike. Yet at each step, Colbert got his laughs, and made his points.

And don't be surprised if the strike isn't settled before the January caucuses--what a perfect way to take him, the Daily Show, and the late-night talk shows out of commission.

:tinfoilhat:
rocknation

[TheDoorbellRang]

5. Great article

I've been in Stewart/Colbert withdrawal since the writers' strike. I've always kind of depended on them to keep my spirits buoyed during these dark times, and it's been a pretty depressing couple of weeks.

[shireen]

6. man's a freakin' genius! nt

[AspenRose]

7. That's my boy!

:loveya: !!

[annabanana]

8. I agree with the author of this article.

Colbert is right up there with Johnathan Swift.

[Arugula Latte]

9. Where would we be without Jon and Stephen?

:toast: