The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report
The Colbert Report title card
Created by	Stephen Colbert Ben Karlin Jon Stewart
Starring	Stephen Colbert
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	236 (as of March 8, 2007) (list of episodes)
Production
Running time	24 minutes
Original release
Network	We
Release	October 17, 2005 – Present

The Colbert Report (pronounced /kɔl.ˈbɛɹ ɹə.ˈpɔɹ/) is an American satirical television program on Comedy Central that stars comedian Stephen Colbert, who previously became well known as a senior correspondent for The Daily Show. The Colbert Report is a spinoff and counterpart of The Daily Show that parodies personality-driven political pundit programs, particularly Fox News' The O'Reilly Factor.

Like The Daily Show, The Report critiques politics and the media, but focuses on the commentary of Colbert's anchorman character, a right-wing "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot" who is inspired by cable news personalities, particularly Bill O'Reilly. The Report received considerable media coverage following its debut on October 17, 2005, for Colbert's coining of the term truthiness, which has been credited as US dictionary publisher Merriam-Webster's 2006 Word of the Year.

The Report airs following The Daily Show at 11:30 p.m. ET/PT (10:30 p.m. CT), Monday through Thursday and then repeats are run the following day at 1:30 a.m., 10:30 a.m., 2:30 p.m. and 8:30 p.m ET. In Canada, one can watch the show at 11:30pm ET/PT Monday to Thursday on The Comedy Network and at 12:35, on the broadcast network CTV. In Australia, The Colbert Report airs Monday to Thursday at 10 p.m. on the The Comedy Channel, one day behind the US broadcast.

Production

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Colbert on "The Colbert Gang"

Following the success of The Daily Show at the 2004 Emmy Awards, Comedy Central wanted to extend the Daily Show franchise. Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin (The Daily Show's executive producer) supposedly came up with the idea for The Colbert Report after watching coverage of the sexual harassment lawsuit filed against Bill O'Reilly. Jon Stewart's production company, Busboy Productions, developed the Report. Colbert, Stewart, and Karlin pitched the idea of the show (reportedly with one sentence: "Our version of The O'Reilly Factor with Stephen Colbert.") to Comedy Central chief Doug Herzog, who agreed to run the show for eight weeks without first creating a pilot.

The Colbert Report first appeared in the form of three fake commercials for itself that aired several times on The Daily Show, although the themes that would form the basis for the Report can be seen in some of the earlier bits performed by Colbert. The show debuted October 17, 2005, for an eight-week run under its initial contract. On November 2, 2005 based on the strong ratings for the show's first two weeks, Comedy Central and Colbert announced they had signed for an additional year, through the end of 2006.

Before hosting The Colbert Report, Colbert was the host of a fictional "Sunday morning chat show," The Colbert Gang, a parody of the CNN program The Capital Gang, which appeared in a segment called "Corporate Slogans" on the Daily Show. The sketch featured bluescreen subliminal messages similar to the style of "The Wørd".

Program format

Typically, Colbert starts each episode with teasers for the show's topics and guest, followed by a verbal metaphor that promotes the show. (For example, using a football metaphor: "Go out ten yards and button-hook to the left. I'm going to hit you with a perfect spiral of the truth. This is The Colbert Report.") The show's opening titles sequence begins, with images of flag waving, Colbert striking poses and words describing Colbert flying by. Originally, the last word to fly past Colbert was grippy, but it has changed to megamerican, Lincolnish, superstantial, freem, eneagled, and as of April 9, 2007, flagaphile. The sequence ends with a computer-generated eagle swooping toward the foreground.

Template:Colbert Report boards Following the opening sequence, Colbert proceeds with the initial run-through of the day's headlines, similar to The Daily Show but with a pseudo-right-wing spin. After this, he presents "The Wørd" [sic], which juxtaposes Colbert's commentary with ironic bullet points on-screen. It is a satirical take on The O'Reilly Factor "Talking Points Memo;" A middle segment follows that varies, normally a visual presentation or skit. Often, these skits are parts of recurring segments, like "Better Know a District", "Tip of the Hat / Wag of the Finger," "Stephen Colbert's Formidable Opponent," and "The Threatdown". Colbert will occasionally bring out "the big boards", which consist of two boards listing groups, individuals, historical periods, animals, objects, etc. that he finds objectionable. One of these boards is called "On Notice", another is called "Dead to Me", and there is also a "Fantasies" board. The "On Notice" list has included the following:

• Bears
• Barbra Streisand
• Michael Adams
• The British Empire
• James Brady
• Black Hole at Center of Galaxy
• E Street Band (Forgiven)
• The Toronto Raptors (now "Dead to Me" because the Toronto Raptor beat out Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle for best mascot)
• Journal of Paleolimnology
• Todd Rundgren (suggested by guest Ric Ocasek)
• Israeli Newspapers
• Lutherans ("Ever since Southern Methodist University protested the President's library, these guys have been lookin' a lot better. Nail that to a church door!")
• Irony
• Jon Stewart (After appearing on the show and claiming to have "walked a mile in Geraldo Rivera's shoes" by wearing his moustache, he was taken off the on-notice list; technically Stewart wasn't on the official "on notice" list because there wasn't enough room that week).
• Weather Channel
• Jane Fonda (He removed Jane from the list, saying that he couldn't put her on notice until he put his fantasies of her on notice first.)
• Stephen's fantasies of Jane Fonda

An interview is then conducted with a guest, who is initially kept in the background as the camera focuses on Colbert doing a victory trot through the studio. Episodes close with a statement by Colbert, occasionally accompanied with the placement of a new item, such as a picture of Hugh Laurie, the doctoral hood given to him by Knox College, the microwave stolen from The O'Reilly Factor's green room, on Colbert's bookshelf. Most recently Captain America's shield was added.

The Eagle's Nest

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Colbert on the set of The Colbert Report.

The studio in which The Colbert Report is taped was used for The Daily Show before that show was moved in July 2005 to a new location. The set for The Colbert Report is called "The Eagle's Nest" and it reflects and facilitates Colbert's self-aggrandizing style.

The set has two main areas: the desk, from which Colbert hosts most of the show, and the guest interview area to the right (stage left), where his guest for the evening sits to be interviewed. The walls on either side of the desk area contain bookshelves which house seemingly random collections of objects. From time to time, Colbert honors someone or something by adding a representative object to the bookshelves. The interview area has another bookshelf on one side, and a fireplace (with a video image of a flickering fire) on the other. On the rear wall is a false window. To the right of the interview area, beyond what is normally caught on camera, is a greenscreen which is used for comedy pieces, such as "Formidable Opponent".

On the show's first episode, Colbert pointed out several of the references to himself in the set. Some of the references include: the show's name high above his desk, the shadow of the name on the wall behind, on a plasma screen on the front of his desk, on the desk itself on either side of the plasma screen, on the chaser lights at the foot of the raised desk area, and light projections on the floor of the set; the desk itself is shaped like a giant C when seen from above.

Colbert often points out his Emmy and Peabody Awards (from The Daily Show) located on a mantelpiece behind the interview area, in parody of Bill O'Reilly's constant mention of the two Peabody awards that he claimed to have won on his previous prime time show, Inside Edition (the show Inside Edition actually won a single Polk Award but the award was won a year after O'Reilly left the show.) Originally above the mantelpiece was a portrait of Colbert standing in front of the same mantel with a different portrait of himself over it. On the show's first anniversary, the portrait was replaced by one of Colbert standing in front of the mantel with the first portrait above it. Colbert claimed that the portrait will be changed every year to add another level of depth.

The graphics used throughout the show and the studio itself are saturated with American flags (including the official Colbert Report flag, named "Flagsworth") and other patriotic imagery, including an eagle's nest prop placed to the side of Colbert's desk and Bald Eagles shown in many places throughout the show. The scene outside the false window behind the interview area was originally a shot looking down over a core of skyscrapers, with the lights of a large city extending to the horizon. Early in 2006, the background changed to a view from the crown of the Statue of Liberty, with the points of its crown and its torch in the foreground. In late 2006, the show began rotating the original two designs and a new third design. The new window depicts a set of cathedral-style stained-glass windows containing images of bald eagle heads, the initials C and R, and the shield portion of the Great Seal of the United States.

In an interview with The A.V. Club, Colbert explained that much of the design for his set was inspired by Leonardo da Vinci's The Last Supper. "All the architecture of that room points at Jesus' head, the entire room is a halo," Colbert said. "On the set, I'd like the lines of the set to converge on my head. And so if you look at the design, it all does, it all points at my head...there's a sort of sun-god burst quality about the set around me."

Stephen Colbert character

Main article: Stephen Colbert (character)

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Stephen Colbert as the fictional Stephen Colbert

The fictional Stephen Colbert character drives the show's focus on "bluster and personality". The character is a "well-intentioned, poorly informed, high-status idiot" inspired by such TV personalities as Bill O'Reilly, Joe Scarborough, and Geraldo Rivera. Colbert's character is right-wing, egomaniacal, fact-averse, God-fearing, and super-patriotic. He claims to be an independent who is often mistaken for a Republican, but uniformly despises liberals and almost always agrees with the actions and decisions of George W. Bush and the Republican Party, thus parodying O'Reilly's self-proclaimed independence. This is evidenced in one of the recurring questions that he asks to many of his guests - "George W. Bush - great President, or the greatest President?"

The character's self-aggrandizing style includes frequent promotion of an extensive range of fictional merchandising and products, including his sci-fi novel Stephen Colbert’s Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure, documentary Stephen Colbert's Hiphopketball: A Jazzebration, fragrance Stephen Colbert's Scorn, and even a jar of his own sperm, Stephen Colbert's Formula 401. Colbert has also successfully incited his viewers, "Colbert Nation", to vote for him in various public naming polls: Colbert has won contests for naming a bridge in Hungary and the mascot of the Saginaw Spirit, an Ontario Hockey League team. A Spirit #1 jersey bearing Colbert's name hangs from the rafters of the television studio, near the news desk. Stephen "took offense" to the fans throwing stuffed teddy bears on the ice after the Oshawa Generals scored a goal (an OHL tradition) on them at an away game saying "an obvious attempt to taunt me" due to Colbert's bear phobia. Stephen made a bet with the Mayor of Oshawa, John Gray, that if the next time the Spirit played the Generals and the Spirit won, they would have an official Stephen Colbert day in the city on Gray's birthday. If the Spirit lost, Stephen would have to wear a Generals jersey on air. At the two teams' next match, the Spirit won 5-4. Now the mayor of Oshawa is calling out Stephen to show up in the city for his special day, though special Stephen Colbert Day festivities have been planned without him.

Colbert's character has been described as a "caustic right-wing bully". On the interview segment of the show, Colbert frequently attempts to "nail" his guest by using various rhetorical devices to prove them wrong. However, when interviewing guests with whom he agrees, Colbert may be gregarious and ingratiating. His feelings towards his guests is often reflected by his introductions: Rather than the camera immediately panning towards the guest (as in other talk shows), the camera follows Colbert as he triumphantly runs around the studio, with one brief shot of the guest in the process. The lone exception to this was Colbert's interview with Bill O'Reilly on January 18, 2007.

Despite his bluster, Colbert's character also demonstrates a notable phobia of bears, which he refers to as "godless killing machines without a soul," or as he said on The O'Reilly Factor, "giant marauding godless killing machines." Bears often top his "threat downs", lists of the greatest threats facing America. This bear phobia was inspired by Colbert's real-life fear of bears as a child. Colbert refers to Bill O'Reilly as "Papa Bear", a dual reference as one of both honor and disdain considering Colbert's obvious hatred of bears.

Recurring themes

The Colbert Report presents various recurring themes that help define the show. An appropriate example would be the Colbert character's bear phobia.

Truthiness

Main article: Truthiness

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Stephen Colbert announces that "The Wørd" of the night is truthiness, during the premiere episode of The Colbert Report.

In "The Wørd" on the first episode of the Report, Colbert featured the term truthiness, which he defined as "the quality by which one purports to know something emotionally or instinctively, without regard to evidence or intellectual examination." In December 2005, the New York Times selected truthiness as one of nine words that captured the zeitgeist of the year, and in January 2006, the American Dialect Society announced that truthiness was selected as its 2005 Word of the Year. Truthiness is often used by lawyers to refer to statements that might otherwise be hearsay that are offered into evidence, not for evidence of their “truth” but rather to show the mindset or beliefs of the declarant.

Colbert has since made frequent reference to the widespread influence of truthiness since he introduced it, while carping on media accounts of truthiness that neglect to identify him as its source. Truthiness has since been discussed, several times in many cases, in the New York Times, the Washington Post, USA Today, the San Francisco Chronicle, the Chicago Tribune, Newsweek, MSNBC, National Public Radio, the Associated Press, Editor & Publisher, Salon, The Huffington Post, ABC NewsRadio's Word Watch with Kel Richards and Chicago Reader, and on ABC's Nightline, CBS' 60 Minutes, and The Oprah Winfrey Show. In January 2006, truthiness was featured as a Word of the Week by the website of the Macmillan English Dictionary. In December of the same year, Merriam-Webster announced that "truthiness" had been voted by visitors to its website to be the #1 Word of the Year for 2006. On August 27, 2006, the Global Language Monitor in an unprecedented move named two words from the same show—truthiness and wikiality—both coined by Colbert, as the top television buzzwords of 2006.

Greenscreen Challenges

On the August 10, 2006 episode, Stephen Colbert was shown jumping around in front of a greenscreen wielding a lightsaber, a parody of the Star Wars Kid internet phenomenon. The original is here. This was done as part of the Better Know A District segment when he visited California's 6th congressional district where Star Wars creator George Lucas lives. This footage was subsequently edited by fans and their results were posted on the Internet, primarily YouTube. Colbert featured some of these clips on the August 21 episode and issued the "Greenscreen Challenge" to the public — a contest for who can make the best video from footage originally filmed in the August 10 episode. Lucas himself made an appearance on the October 11 episode to showcase his entry.

When indie rock band The Decemberists shot a music video in front of a green screen and asked people to finish the video, Colbert took them to task for copying his idea and started his second green screen challenge. The Decemberists then challenged Colbert to a guitar solo challenge. For a few weeks this became a focus of the show. On December 20, 2006, Chris Funk, lead guitarist for The Decemberists, came to the show for the guitar solo challenge. The contest was called "Rock and Awe: Countdown to Guitarmageddon" (Colbert announced "The I-Rock War: Cut and Strum" and "The Axeman Cometh: Mourning Becomes Electric" as alternate titles, adding of the latter that he would find and fire the English major on his staff). After Funk had finished playing, Colbert came on stage with a five-necked guitar. Colbert played two notes, pretended to cut his hand, and insisted that he could no longer play. Peter Frampton then came on and played a solo for Colbert. A panel of three judges, New York governor Eliot Spitzer, Rock critic Anthony DeCurtis, and chairman of the Clive Davis Department of Recorded Music at New York University, Jim Anderson, voted on whose solo they thought was the best. DeCurtis voted for the Colbert/Frampton team, Anderson voted for Funk, and after Spitzer revealed that Colbert had tried to bribe him during the commercial break he withdrew himself from judging. The deciding vote was given to Henry Kissinger, who made a few short appearances earlier in the show starting the contest. Kissinger said that the American people had won and Colbert deemed himself the winner. As a prize he got The Crane Wife, The Decemberists' new album.

Stephen Colbert Day

In late January of 2007 Colbert made a bet with the mayor of Oshawa, Ontario that the Saginaw Spirit (Colbert's team) would beat the Oshawa Generals, teams in the Ontario Hockey League. The terms of this bet were that, if the Generals won Colbert would wear a Generals jersey on his show, and if the Spirit won Oshawa would hold a 'Stephen Colbert Day' to be held on his birthday.

The Spirit did in fact win, but Colbert decided he wanted it to be declared on Mayor John Gray’s birthday, March 20. So, on March 23rd, 2007, Stephen Colbert Day was held in Oshawa, which included a Stephen Colbert look-alike contest. Colbert featured footage from the event on his March 26th show.

Fictional characters

• P.K. Winsome has had multiple appearances on The Colbert Report as a political commentator, entrepreneur, and black Republican. He is played by former Saturday Night Live cast member Tim Meadows.

• Russ Lieber is a satirical liberal radio talk show host from Madison, Wisconsin and nemesis of Colbert. He is ultra-sensitive to political correctness, and often worries that his own words might be misconstrued as offensive. Lieber, played by David Cross, has often appeared on the show to debate.

• Tad is the building manager, portrayed by Paul Dinello. Generally, he has hosted special segments, such as the building's fire drill. Other segments include his visit to a bank auction for Randy "Duke" Cunningham's assets and his trip to Colbert County, Alabama, to open The Stephen Colbert Museum and Gift Shop.

• Bobby is a stage manager, played by writer Eric Drysdale. He frequently is called upon to do degrading things or to answer questions from Colbert. Bobby is also responsible for keeping track of the whereabouts of Colbert's "son", Stephen Jr.

• Killer is a member of Colbert's staff, a large man who never speaks. Due to his constant grimace, threatening stare, and probable criminal history, he is the only staff member that Colbert is afraid to abuse. He has also been described by Colbert as a "Demolitions Expert".

• Jimmy has only been seen on the show once, although Stephen frequently asks him to put up graphics and such, a possible reference to the show's director, Jim Hoskinson.

• Meg is a female intern. When the Democratic Party swept the House and Senate elections of 2006, Colbert characterized the result as a victory for the terrorists, and showed Meg wearing a burqa. Earlier in that same episode, to prove that the show was indeed live, Colbert demanded Meg have sex with him, or else he will fire her.

• Wilford Brimley is Colbert's "Spiritual Advisor" with whom he frequently has phone conversations. These conversations usually end up with Brimley's (voiced by Colbert) going off on angry go-nowhere tangents that he usually blames on his bout with "The Diabeetus".

• Tek Jansen is a cartoon that Colbert claims to animate himself. Tek greatly resembles Colbert and is also voiced by him. Most of his adventures feature space travel and greatly parody other cartoons of the same genres. It is also quite explicit: in most episodes Tek has sex with one of the female characters. According to Colbert, Jansen is also the star of at least one sci-fi-themed novel written by Colbert himself.

• Esteban Colberto is a Mexican version of Stephen. He can be seen with two beautiful girls dancing around him whom he refers to only as "Chicas," and summons and dismisses them on command. He has been featured in an exhibit of THE WØRD (where he was Cuban and not Mexican) and on Stephen's coverage of President George W. Bush's visit to Latin America.

• Alan is Stephen's ex-"Black Friend." Stephen demoted him to "Acquaintance" after seeing him at a protest. Since Alan's demotion, Stephen has been searching for a new Black Friend but has been unsuccessful thus far. Alan is played by comedian Jordan Carlos.

• The Professor is an apparently insane homeless man who Stephen refers to as his "spiritual advisor". He is only seen in a picture, as a wild haired, toothless man screaming at the sky.

Reception

The Colbert Report drew an unusual amount of media anticipation prior to its premiere, including from The New Yorker, NPR's All Things Considered and Fresh Air, CNN, and The Washington Post. The New York Times alone ran three articles on the Report before its debut, and has made repeated references to The Colbert Report since then. For example, Maureen Dowd of the The New York Times referred to Colbert's "Dead To Me" board as a metaphor in her column, saying that Oprah Winfrey "should take a page from Stephen Colbert and put the slippery James Frey on her 'Dead to me' list".

The Colbert Report drew 1.13 million viewers for its premiere episode, 47% higher than the average for that time slot over the previous four weeks and a full 98% of the viewership of The Daily Show, which itself has Comedy Central's second-largest viewership, behind South Park. Further, in 2006, the first year of the Report's eligibility, Colbert's show was nominated for four Emmys (as of August 27), including nominations for the show itself and for Colbert as host.

Averaged over its opening week, the Report had 1.2 million viewers per episode, more than double the average for the same time the previous year, when the time slot was occupied by Too Late with Adam Carolla. The premiere week of The Colbert Report also coincided with the second-highest-rated week of The Daily Show, behind the week leading up to the 2004 U.S. presidential election.

The Colbert Report rapidly became an internet phenomenon, with a vast number of clips from the show being posted onto YouTube by fans. Subsequently references to YouTube were made in jokes on the show, which also launched the first "green screen challenge". On October 27, 2006, however, Comedy Central asserted its copyright over The Colbert Report clips, and YouTube removed all clips over 5 minutes in length. In February 2007, they further removed all The Colbert Report clips at Viacom's request.

In March 2007 Colbert in his segment The Word, implied that Windsor, Ontario was one of the worst places in the world. This did not please Windsor mayor Eddie Francis who said, "When people slam the city, I don't laugh. I know it’s a joke, but I’m very serious about Windsor’s brand." .

Presented as non-satirical journalism

Huffington Post

In May 2006, a fake guest blogger on the political news site Huffington Post filed a satirical polemic which, feigning ignorance of the Report's satirical nature, criticized Colbert's journalistic style and questioned "why this Republican pundit Colbert is on Comedy Central." The site subsequently issued an apology for the satirical post. The "guest" blogger was actually regular columnist Bob Cesca, who adopted the fictional character of a "vitriolic progressive blogger" named Gotterdammerung while he "traveled."

Tom DeLay Legal Defense Trust

Also in May 2006, the Tom DeLay Legal Defense Trust posted a video of The Colbert Report on its website and sent out a mass email urging DeLay supporters to watch how "Hollywood liberal" Robert Greenwald "crashed and burned . . . when promoting his new attack on Tom DeLay." The video features Colbert asking questions such as "Who hates America more, you or Michael Moore?" The Trust's email describes its content as "the truth behind Liberal Hollywood's" film about DeLay, and characterizes the Colbert Report clip with the headline, "Colbert Cracks the Story on Real Motivations Behind the Movie."

On June 8, 2006, Colbert retaliated on his show by conducting an "Exclusive Fake Interview" with DeLay. It was done by splicing three different interviews with DeLay on different networks to put him in a bad light. Colbert ended the "interview" by saying "I do hope you enjoyed my manipulation of your words."

Robert Wexler

On July 25, 2006, Colbert took to task some television networks—specifically FOX News, NBC's The Today Show and ABC's Good Morning America—for taking out of context comments made by Florida Congressman Robert Wexler on The Colbert Report (e.g., "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do."). Wexler, who ran unopposed in the then-upcoming election, made the comments in response to a suggestion by Colbert to "say some things that would really lose the election for you if you were contested." Colbert, in a rare break of character, said that Wexler "didn't mean a thing he was saying. He knew it was a joke, and he was confident enough to play along."

Awards

In 2006, The Colbert Report was nominated for four Emmys, one more than its parent, The Daily Show. However, The Colbert Report lost two of its Emmy opportunities to The Daily Show (of which Colbert received one as a then-member of The Daily Show's writing staff). Colbert also lost Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program to Barry Manilow (who was nominated for a PBS special), as an in-character Colbert angrily noted while presenting an Emmy later that night. Manilow would later appear on The Report, signing a peace treaty with Colbert in which they agree to joint custody of the award. The two would then go on to sing a duet of Manilow's classic "I Write The Songs".

• Outstanding Directing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program, Episode #110
• Outstanding Individual Performance In A Variety Or Music Program, Stephen Colbert
• Outstanding Variety, Music Or Comedy Series
• Outstanding Writing For A Variety, Music Or Comedy Program

Additionally, the show was nominated for two Television Critics Association Awards.

• Outstanding Individual Achievement in Comedy, Stephen Colbert
• Outstanding New Program of the Year

The Colbert Report was also nominated for two Satellite Awards.

• Outstanding Actor in a Series, Comedy or Musical, Stephen Colbert
• Outstanding Television Series, Comedy or Musical

Other honors

• On March 29, 2006, Colbert announced that he had been contacted by San Francisco Zoo officials seeking his permission to name an unhatched bald eagle after him. The eagle, affectionately dubbed "Stephen Jr." on the Report, was to be reintroduced into the wild as a part of the zoo's California Bald Eagle Breeding Program. Colbert celebrated its birth on the April 17, 2006, program, and has since given updates on the bird's development. He has also criticized the bird for migrating to Canada. He also attempted to lure the eagle back to the US by showing "Eagle Porn" on the show and claiming that Stephen Jr. only went to Canada because the Canadian eagles were loose, a claim he bolstered by the fact that the eagle was at that time on a path back toward the United States.

• On June 03, 2006, Colbert received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College, Illinois; his credit as producer has been listed since that time as "Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A."

• On September 30, 2006, the Saginaw Spirit, an OHL hockey team in Saginaw, Michigan, named its co-mascot "Steagle Colbeagle the Eagle" in honor of Colbert, despite being spotted holding a Canadian flag during their anthem). Before the introduction of the mascot, the team was 0-3-0-1. However, since the Steagle was introduced the team has fared better, improving their record to 44-21-0-3 at the end of the season, before losing in the first round of the playoffs. On January 27, 2007, Oshawa, Ontario declared March 20 Stephen Colbert Day after mayor John Gray lost a bet to Colbert that the Oshawa Generals would beat the Spirit. Saginaw ended up winning 5-4.

• On February 14th, 2007, the ice cream company Ben and Jerry's announced a new flavor of ice cream called "Stephen Colbert's Americone Dream." The flavor is described on their website as "a decadent melting pot of vanilla ice cream with fudge-covered waffle cone pieces and a caramel swirl." The company's founders appeared on the show on March 5, 2007 to discuss the ice cream and to plug their "grassroots education and advocacy project" TrueMajority.

• On March 12th, 2007, the Editor-in-Chief of Marvel Comics, Joe Quesada, awarded Stephen Colbert the recently deceased superhero Captain America's shield. The letter to Stephen accompanying the shield stated that "the Star-Spangled Avenger has bequeathed... his indestructible shield to the only man he believed to have the red, white and blue balls to carry the mantle." Stephen promised to use the shield "only to fight for justice... and to impress girls."

Cultural impact

Hungarian bridge campaign

Further information: Megyeri Bridge

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Colbert refers to Miklós Zrínyi in promoting the bridge contest.

In 2006, the Ministry of Transport of Hungary launched an online call for public suggestions to name a future motorway bridge over the Danube, just north of Budapest. Ministry officials said the Hungarian Geographical Name Committee would choose from among the three submitted candidates with the most votes, plus suggestions from "local governments, cartographers, linguists and other experts".

Users offered hundreds of suggestions, among them the "'You Can Go To Bratislava But Not Over This Bridge' Bridge" and the "Chuck Norris Bridge," which led the polling for some time. Colbert noted the effort with approval in his "Tip of the hat, wag of the finger" segment on August 9.

He continued to implore his viewers to vote for him the following weeks. On August 22, Hungarian news sites reported Colbert had won the first round of voting with 17,231,724 votes. That night, Colbert called off his voters. He also noted that Hungary had changed the voting rules after the members of the Colbert Nation Forums developed a bot to stuff the ballot box. For the second phase, registration was required to cast a vote. Colbert also offered apologies, spending a segment honoring Hungary, its history and its contributions to the world.

On September 14, 2006 Colbert introduced his guest András Simonyi, Ambassador of the Republic of Hungary to the United States. The ambassador presented Mr. Colbert with a declaration certifying him as the winner of the second and final round of voting. The document bore the signatures of Hungarian government officials and the country's official seal. Included in the text, as read by the ambassador, were two important conditions required for the name of the bridge to be made official. First, Colbert would have to be fluent in Hungarian. Colbert retorted by pronouncing the Hungarian name Nicholas Zrinyi (incorrectly referring to Miklós Zrínyi) and híd (meaning 'bridge' in Hungarian); Simonyi quickly certified him as fluent.

The second criterion was for Colbert to be dead. Colbert protested, but the ambassador presented him with a Hungarian passport and 10,000 Hungarian Forint (HUF), noting that this would allow Stephen to enter Hungary at any time, without restriction. He also brought attention to the portrait of King St. Stephen, the first King of Hungary, on the 10,000 HUF bill. Finally Simonyi implied that the question of Colbert's ineligibility by virtue of being alive might be resolved if Colbert were to accept an invitation to visit the bridge site in Budapest; Colbert responded by trying to bribe the ambassador with the 10,000 HUF bill. Opening ceremonies are scheduled to take place in 2008.

On September 28 2006, it was announced that the bridge will be named "Megyeri Bridge", although this proposal didn't make it to the second round. According to the Geographical Name Committee, this name was chosen because the bridge connects Káposztásmegyer with Békásmegyer.

Congressional response

In response to the 'Better Know a District' segment, and possible satire, Rahm Emanuel, Democratic Caucus chair has instructed incoming freshmen not to do appearances on the show.

In response to Rep. Emmanuel's statements, Stephen Colbert conceded that he does edit interviews with representatives and in the spirit of turnabout-is-fair-play issued an "Editing Challenge" on his March 26, 2007 broadcast. The challenge directs viewers to the Colbert Nation website to obtain an extended interview with Stephen conducted by Gwen Ifill which viewers may then edit to make him look as ridiculous as the representatives.

See also

• List of The Colbert Report episodes
• The Daily Show
• Comedy Central
• Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner
• Colbert's Shred-Off with the Decemberists following Green Screen Challenge dispute

References

• 'Daily Show' Correspondent Readies 'The Colbert Report': National Public Radio's Robert Siegel interviews Stephen Colbert, May 4, 2005
• 'Daily Show' Personality Gets His Own Platform, The New York Times, May 4, 2005
• TV's Newest Anchor: A Smirk in Progress, The Washington Post, October 10, 2005
• The News Is Funny, as a Correspondent Gets His Own Show, The New York Times, October 12, 2005
• Zap2it Colbert interview October 15, 2005
• The Colbert Factor: The Daily Show's senior bloviator gets a desk of his own, Slate, October 18, 2005
• Comedy's Colbert Report Gets 1.13 Mil. Viewers, Mediaweek, October 18, 2005
• 'Daily Show' alum scores with a slap at talking heads, The Philadelphia Inquirer, October 19, 2005 ("What makes the portrayal so funny is that it rings so true...")
• Colbert brings real wit to mock punditry, Detroit News, October 20, 2005
• The wit and sense of 'Colbert Report': Show is smart, funny and a logical offshoot, Media Life, October 20, 2005
• 'The Colbert Report' succeeds as comedy, opened with strong ratings and seems destined for a long run. What does that tell us about the news business?, Newsweek, October 21, 2005
• Egomaniacal satirist broadcasts Stewart spinoff, Daily Orange, October 21, 2005
• 'Colbert', Cartoons Break Big for Comedy Central, zap2it.com, October 24, 2005
• Bringing Out the Absurdity of the News, The New York Times, October 25, 2005 (misreports first Word of the Day as "Trustiness"; later publishes a correction, reports that it should have been "Truthiness")
• Colbert Report comes north Nov. 7, Toronto Star, October 31, 2005
• Group wants hall named for Colbert, The Pitt News, January 7, 2007

External links

• The Colbert Report Web site (Comedy Central)
• Colbert Nation - Owned by Comedy Central's Central Productions LLC
• The Colbert Report at IMDb
• Global Language Monitor on Top Television Buzzwords
• Stephen Colbert's Wikiality
• Bill O'Reilly's visit to The Colbert Report
• colbertclips.com Video Archive and Discussion
• Colbertopedia - A Stephen Colbert Wikia
• RSS Feed of Colbert Report clips on Viacom's iFilm

Radio interviews

• NPR's All Things Considered Interview with Colbert from May 4, 2005
• NPR's Fresh Air With Terry Gross Pre-Debut Interview from April 8, 2005
• NPR's Fresh Air With Terry Gross Post-Debut Interview from December 7, 2005
• Co-Head Writer Allison Silverman on The Sound of Young America from September 29, 2006