The Colbert Report

The Colbert Report
File:The Colbert Report.JPG The Colbert Report logo.
Created by	Stephen Colbert Ben Karlin Jon Stewart
Starring	Stephen Colbert
Country of origin	USA
No. of episodes	117 (as of July 12, 2006)
Production
Running time	22 minutes
Original release
Network	Comedy Central
Release	October 17, 2005 – Present

The Colbert Report (pronounced /koʊl.ˈbɛɹ ɹə.ˈpɔɹ/ or coal-BARE re-POUR), is an American satirical television program on Comedy Central that stars Stephen Colbert, best known previously as a correspondent for The Daily Show. The show continues the Stephen Colbert correspondent character from The Daily Show, but in a different context — a direct parody of political pundit programs, especially those regarded as right-wing or Republican-leaning, such as The O'Reilly Factor.

Stephen Colbert originally became well-known for his acting in the Comedy Central show Strangers with Candy which also starred Paul Dinello and Amy Sedaris.

The Report airs following The Daily Show at 11:30 p.m. EST and PST, Monday through Thursday. The Colbert Report is being followed up by a second spin-off of The Daily Show, a show called Red State Diaries to be hosted by Lewis Black and slated to debut in 2006.

Origin

File:Thecolbertgang.jpg

Colbert on "The Colbert Gang"

Comedy Central in 2005 announced The Colbert Report as part of a lineup where they hope to "Keep the viewers attracted by The Daily Show to keep watching late into the night." Colbert, Jon Stewart, and Ben Karlin (The Daily Show's executive producer) supposedly came up with the idea for the show 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, 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.

The Colbert Report was not the first fictional program Colbert was portrayed as the host of on The Daily Show. For example, in a segment called "Corporate Slogans", Colbert was the host of a fictional "Sunday morning chat show", The Colbert Gang, which featured green screen subliminal messages similar to the style of "The Wørd".

Relation to The O'Reilly Factor

For the most part the Stephen Colbert character and The Colbert Report are direct parodies of Bill O'Reilly and his The O'Reilly Factor. New episodes of The Colbert Report are scheduled in the same time slot as rebroadcasts of The O'Reilly Factor while Colbert rebroadcasts are scheduled during new O'Reilly shows. [1]

Colbert frequently refers to O'Reilly as his mentor and calls him "Papa Bear" in an endearing manner — a nickname with an ironic double-meaning, as Colbert frequently states that he considers bears to be the number-one threat to the national security of the United States today.

When O'Reilly appeared on The Daily Show before the second episode of The Colbert Report aired, he began by commenting on the Report: "Before we get started, somebody told me walking in here, you got some French guy on after you making fun of me?" In a subsequent Newsweek interview, O'Reilly said that he "feels it's a compliment" to have Colbert parody him because Colbert "isn't mean spirited" and does not "use [his] platform to injure people." In an open reply on-air, Colbert later said: "I like you too. In fact, if it wasn't for you, this show wouldn't exist." In another episode, Colbert said that imitation is a sincere form of flattery, and adds he is "flattered by Bill O'Reilly's imitation" of him.

The Colbert Report directly parodies The O'Reilly Factor with a commentary segment called "The Wørd," similar to O'Reilly's "Talking Points Memo." Like "the Memo," "The Wørd" features Colbert asserting a political point of view with a text screen graphic next to him. However, while O'Reilly's text serves to emphasize his points, Colbert's generally serve to provide an ironic counterpoint to his position. Also, Colbert's "No Fact Zone" is clearly inspired by O'Reilly's "No Spin Zone."

Format of the program

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A computer generated eagle, Liberty, swoops in on the viewer in the intro to The Colbert Report

Main article: The Colbert Report recurring elements

Typically, Colbert starts each episode with teasers for the show's topics and guest, followed by a dominant verbal metaphor for the way he intends to convey "truth" to his viewers. (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.") Then the show's opening titles sequence kicks off, 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" and, more recently, "lincolnish".

The general flow of segments after the opening titles is:

• The initial run-through of the day's headlines, similar to The Daily Show but with a pseudo-right-wing spin;
• "The Wørd" (sic), which juxtaposes Colbert's commentary with ironic bullet points on-screen;
• A middle segment that varies;
• An interview with a guest, who is initially kept in the background, while spotlights focus on Colbert as he does a victory trot through the studio;
• A closing statement by Colbert, occasionally accompanied by a new item placed on his bookshelf.

The "Stephen Colbert" character

Main article: Stephen Colbert (character)

Interaction with guests

When the show premiered, the studio guests appeared to be uncertain and put off by Colbert's character. But by the fourth and fifth episodes, Colbert established a routine of remaining in character in a more affable way, and keeping his guests comfortable and in on the fun. One reviewer identified Colbert's on-the-spot ad libbing in character during the studio interviews as the one aspect of the show that was often considered by some funniest and most indicative of (the actor) Colbert's true talent.

The set ("The Eagle's Nest")

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Stephen Colbert on the set of The Colbert Report

The studio in which The Colbert Report is taped was used for The Daily Show before the show was moved in July 2005 to a new location and reflects the self-aggrandizing nature of Colbert's character, including:

• Colbert often points out his Emmy and Peabody Awards (from The Daily Show) located on a mantelpiece behind his guest interview area. This is a reference to Bill O'Reilly, who claimed in 2000 that his previous show, Inside Edition, had won two Peabodys, instead of the George Polk Award which Inside Edition did win in 1994 after O'Reilly had left the show.
• Colbert sometimes stands next to a portrait that depicts him standing next to another portrait of himself.
• Colbert's desk viewed from above is a large "C."

Colbert refers to his set as the Eagle's Nest, apparently oblivious that the same title was also used to refer to the luxurious mountaintop retreat used during World War II by Adolf Hitler.

Overall, the design of the set mocks the tendency of some media, particularly Fox News, to prominently feature patriotic symbols, imagery, and colors of the United States. Aside from the opening titles sequence described above, the graphics used throughout the show and the studio itself are saturated with American flags 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.

In an interview with The Onion, Colbert explained that much of the design for his set was based on 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."

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 alluded 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 4 Emmys, 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. It should be noted that the show previously in that time slot was 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.

Report in Canada

As with The Daily Show, viewers in Canada can watch The Colbert Report on CTV and The Comedy Network, which began airing The Colbert Report on November 7, 2005. It currently airs at 11:30 p.m. ET and PT on the Comedy Network and at 12:35 a.m. local time on CTV.

Colbert opened the first show to air in Canada with a joking bilingual welcome and several Canadian jibes. After Conservative Stephen Harper's victory in the Canadian Federal election seventy-seven days after the Report first aired in Canada, Colbert proudly proclaimed he had "fixed Canada in seventy-seven days" on the January 25, 2006 episode.

Truthiness

Main article: Truthiness

File:Colbert-truthiness.jpg

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. 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, 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's 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.

Mistaken for non-satirical journalism

In May, 2006, a fake "guest" columnist on the political news site Huffington Post filed a satirical story which pretended to criticize Colbert's journalistic style and questioned "why this Republican pundit Colbert is on Comedy Central". The site subsequently issued a fake apology for the satirical article, which pretended to fail at recognizing The Colbert Report as satirical. The underlying joke, which was lost amongst many readers and visitors, was that the "guest" columnist was actually a regular columnist, Bob Cesca, who occupied the faux handle of 'GOTTERDAMMERUNG' while he "travelled". Bob Cesca also gave the imaginary GOTTERDAMMERUNG a fake "first book" named: Blogging My Cat While He Poops On Bush: An Empirical Political Analysis of The Radical Right's Christofascist Agenda. Image of the nonexistent book.

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".

As word of the DeLay site error spread through the internet and news outlets, especially Democratic-leaning blogs, the video clip began to malfunction on the Legal Defense Trust website. It is believed but not proven that the site's creators, put in the embarrassing situation of not realizing the satire until far too late, decided the best way to save face was by deliberately sabotaging the video clip.

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." This method of fake interviews was first used by "Weird Al" Yankovic[2], and was also done on The Daily Show where Jon Stewart hosted a hoax-debate between the current President, George W. Bush, and George W. Bush from the year 2000. In this "interview" they also took various clips from different interviews to respond to the questions given, and it showed how the then-current president had completely different points of view on foreign policy than he formerly did in 2000.

On July 25, 2006, Colbert took to task some television network morning news shows – specifically NBC's The Today Show and ABC's Good Morning America – for taking out of context comments made by Florida Congressman Robert Wexler on his show (e.g. "I enjoy cocaine because it's a fun thing to do"). Wexler had 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." As of the show's airing, Wexler was running for re-election unopposed. In a rare moment, Colbert broke character to say 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 4 Emmys, 1 more than its parent, The Daily Show.[3]

• 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.[4]

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

The Colbert Report was also nominated for two Satellite Awards.[5]

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

Trivia

• On March 2, 2006, Colbert used his "The Da Colbert Code" (a parody of Dan Brown's The Da Vinci Code), a series of bizarrely random word associations, to accurately predict the Oscar winners for five major awards, including the underdog Crash for Best Picture (although based on the pattern, it should have been Brokeback Mountain, but Colbert drew a blank after saying "Space Mountain" and chose Crash instead). The following show, on March 6, 2006, was marked by Colbert's proclamation that "I called it!" as balloons rained down from the ceiling.

• Colbert often refers to his (fake) novel, Alpha Squad 7: Lady Nocturne: A Tek Jansen Adventure, which features himself as the main character, Tek Jansen. Bill O'Reilly has authored one novel, a thriller titled Those Who Trespass, about a protagonist based on O'Reilly himself who kills co-workers who stand in the way of his television career.

• Stephen Colbert's right ear pokes out slightly further than the left, a fact he has acknowledged and made fun of on the show. He is also deaf in that ear.

• On March 29, 2006, Colbert announced that he had been contacted by representatives of the San Francisco Zoo seeking his permission to name a then unhatched bald eagle after him. The eagle, affectionately dubbed "Stephen Jr." on the Report, was hatched to be reintroduced into the wild as a part of the zoo's California Bald Eagle Breeding Program. Colbert celebrated its birth on-air on April 17, 2006, and updates on the bird's development have been featured on the show since. [6]

• The Report's theme song, listed alternatively in the credits as Baby Muggles and Baby Mumbles, was written and performed by Cheap Trick.
• The eagle featured in Colbert Report advertising, in the logo, and often in the background videos is named "Liberty".
• Colbert uses FedEx instead of UPS on his show in several episodes, contrary to a Threat Down segment where he listed FedEx founder Fred Smith as being one of the top threats to America.
• In recent episodes, Colbert has made frequent references to Gregory House from the Fox show, House. He views him as a "hero who is larger than life, and who shapes the United States." He puts him in the same hero category consisting of George W. Bush and Dick Cheney. A framed photograph of House can be seen on his desk to the stage left of the set.
• On June 5, 2006, the Colbert Report's 100th episode aired. Stone Phillips, the first guest on the show, returned to become the first two-time guest. Colbert and Phillips then held a "Gravitas-Off," a rematch of their popular contest from the first show.
• On June 15, 2006, Stephen Colbert disclosed that he is part Chickasaw Indian, and on July 25, 2006, commented to William Donohue that he was indeed 1/13 Chickasaw.
• On July 12, 2006, Mort Zuckerman, who recently had been placed On Notice, was the first guest to accept Colbert's challenge to come on the show within 60 days of being placed on the board to get removed. Zuckerman apologized, and was removed from the On Notice board at the end of the show.
• On July 19, 2006, Joe Scarborough, conservative pundit and a major influence on Colbert's bulldozer interviewing style, acknowledged that he is a huge fan of the show and watches it every night with his wife. They traded several inside jokes about the similarities of their shows, ending when Colbert offered Scarborough the position of Vice President of the Colbert Nation and Scarborough made Colbert the Archduke of Scarborough Country.
• After Colbert received an honorary doctorate in fine arts from Knox College, his credit as producer has been listed since that time as "Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, D.F.A.," perhaps as a reference to Bill Cosby, who is credited as an actor in his shows by his given name but as a producer as "William H. Cosby Jr., Ed.D."
• On the show, Stephen has made jokes which hint at (faux) homoerotic tension with his building manager Tad. Tad is played by comedian Paul Dinello, who played art teacher Mr. Jellineck on the series "Strangers with Candy." On this series, Stephen played teacher Mr. Noblet, who carried out a secret affair with Mr. Jellineck.

• On the July 31, 2006, episode Stephen has changed his mind and oregon is not "California's Canada" or "Washington's Mexico" because that is "giving oregon too much credit" so it is now "Idaho's Portugal".

See also

• The Colbert Report recurring elements
  • Better Know A District
• List of The Colbert Report episodes
• The Daily Show
• Stephen Colbert
• Truthiness

Special Performances

• Stephen Colbert at the 2006 White House Correspondents' Association Dinner, April 29, 2006

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

External links

• Official website
• Colbert Nation fan site
• Template:Tvtome show
• The Colbert Report at IMDb
• Upcoming Guests on The Colbert Report
• No Fact Zone.net Colbert blog
• Colbert Report slams Freud on YouTube

Radio

• 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