Better Know a District: Difference between revisions
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| Representative [[Chris Smith (US politician)|Chris Smith]] declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed his challenger instead. |
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Revision as of 03:08, 28 November 2006
Better Know A District is a recurring segment on The Colbert Report. It offers a humorous explanation of a different United States Congressional district in each segment and generally includes an interview with that district's member of Congress.
Structure
Each segment begins with basic information about a specific district, such as history and geography, and sometimes a humorously bizarre event that happened there. The district is also invariably referred to as "fightin'," as in the "Fightin' 11th." Most segments feature an interview with its Representative.
One comedic maneuver that Colbert commonly employs in these interviews is to ask the Representative the loaded question, "George W. Bush: great President, or the greatest President?"
After the interview, Colbert adds the segment to "the big board", a map of the entire United States with district lines drawn; the new district, shown in sparkling gold on a blue background, is usually very difficult or impossible to see due to its small size. Though many districts have been profiled, the map still looks largely vacant overall.
Reactions of interviewees
Although the interviews intentionally show most of the Representatives in an unflattering light, the Representatives' post-interview reactions have varied. Colbert's interview with Massachusetts Representative Barney Frank has resulted in Frank lambasting the program [1] (he was quoted on a later Report), while the interview with Virginia Representative Jim Moran pleased the Congressman — he told the New York Times that he thought Colbert "let me off kind of light."[2]
California Representative Brad Sherman appeared to be in on the joke. [3] He claimed not to know that his San Fernando Valley district was home to the pornography industry, gave an apparently long and dull explanation of a tax proposal, and participated in the making of a "pornographic video" with Colbert.
The Washington Times also published a story on the show. [4] The Los Angeles Times has reported that due to the fact that many House members have "stumbled badly" during this segment, others are not risking "the price for looking stupid" and are passing up the opportunity to be on the Colbert Report's Better Know a District. [5]
On his November 7, 2006 show, Colbert lauded the fact that every one of the 28 actual congressmen who he'd interviewed by that point won reelection.
District count
Better Know a District began as a "435-part series," 435 being the number of United States Congressional districts; however, on November 29, 2005, Colbert banned California's 50th District after his "friend" Randy "Duke" Cunningham, the 50th's Representative, pled guilty to receiving over $2 million in bribes and resigned his seat. California's 50th is now the lone member of the "Never Existed to Me" category, and the map showing the United States's Congressional districts now looks as if the district does not even exist. This brought the series to a "434-part series". After this, Texas's 22nd District was "retired" on April 4 2006 when Tom DeLay announced that he planned to leave Congress. Texas's 22nd was reinstated on June 8, 2006, with a "fake" interview in which video of DeLay in three previous interviews on other television networks was interspersed with questions from Colbert. The congressman's words were used out of context for comedic effect. The district was put back into retirement at the end of the segment.
In the show's first year, 34 districts were profiled.
The original district map lacked Michigan’s Upper Peninsula. During a phone-in segment, a resident Michigan’s first reported this absence. Colbert informed the caller that he lived in Canada and if it wasn’t on Colbert’s map, it wasn’t a part of the United States. Upper Michigan was added to the map the next time it was shown.
During the interview with Eleanor Holmes Norton, Colbert established that the District of Columbia was not a state, and thus the District of Columbia was not a part of the United States. The Better Know a District map was updated with an asterisk notation to reflect this fact. Furthermore, the count of 435 districts (now 434) does not include non-voting districts, such as the District of Columbia.
List of districts covered
The districts covered thus far in "Better Know a District" are shown below. The Washington Post has reprinted transcripts from segments of "Better Know a District". [6]
Season 1 (2005)
| # | District | Guest | Date aired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 1 | Georgia - 1 | Jack Kingston (R) | October 18 | |
| 2 | Massachusetts - 4 | Barney Frank (D) | October 27 | |
| 3 | Ohio - 11 | Stephanie Tubbs Jones (D) | November 3 | |
| 4 | Florida - 7 | John Mica (R) | November 9 | |
| 5 | Colorado - 2 | Mark Udall (D) | November 16 | |
| 6 | Michigan - 13 | Carolyn Cheeks Kilpatrick (D) | November 30 | |
| 7 | Virginia - 8 | Jim Moran (D) | December 6 | |
| 8 | New York - 11 | Major Owens (D) | December 15 |
Season 2 (2006)
| # | District | Guest | Date aired | Notes |
|---|---|---|---|---|
| 9 | New Jersey - 9 | Steve Rothman (D) | January 12 | |
| 10 | New York - 17 | Eliot L. Engel (D) | January 19 | Reintroduced in "Better Know A Memory" |
| 11 | New Jersey - 8 | Bill Pascrell (D) | January 25 | |
| 12 | New York - 8 | Jerrold Nadler (D) | February 2 | |
| 13 | Pennsylvania - 2 | Chaka Fattah (D) | February 8 | |
| 14 | New Jersey - 13 | Vacant | February 21 | |
| 15 | California - 39 | Linda Sánchez (D) | March 9 | |
| 16 | California - 27 | Brad Sherman (D) | March 22 | Reintroduced in "Better Know a Memory" |
| 17 | California - 29 | Adam Schiff (D) | March 29 | |
| 18 | Oregon - 5 | Darlene Hooley (D) | April 6 | |
| 19 | Maryland - 4 | Albert Wynn (D) | April 20 | |
| 20 | Georgia - 11 | Phil Gingrey (R) | April 26 | First interview to receive an extension via "Betterer Know A District" |
| 21 | Oregon - 3 | Earl Blumenauer (D) | May 4 | |
| 22 | Nebraska - 2 | Lee Terry (R) | May 10 | |
| 23 | Texas - 22 | Tom DeLay (R)1 | June 8 | |
| 24 | Georgia - 8 | Lynn Westmoreland (R) | June 14 | Reintroduced in "Better Know a Memory" |
| 25 | Colorado - 1 | Diana DeGette (D) | June 22 | |
| 26 | Washington - 2 | Rick Larsen (D) | July 12 | |
| 27 | Florida - 19 | Robert Wexler (D) | July 20 | Reappeared on the show on November 7, but was more careful with what he said. He was reintroduced in "Better Know a Memory" the following day. |
| 28 | District of Columbia | Eleanor Holmes Norton (D) | July 27 | Reappeared on the show on November 7. |
| 29 | California - 6 | Lynn Woolsey (D) | August 10 | |
| 30 | California - 31 | Xavier Becerra (D) | August 17 | |
| 31 | New Jersey - 3 | Rich Sexton (D) | September 12 | Representative Jim Saxton declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed his challenger instead (defeated). |
| 32 | New Jersey - 5 | Paul Aronsohn (D) | September 21 | Representative Scott Garrett declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed his challenger instead (defeated). |
| 33 | Florida - 16 | Mark Foley (R) | October 5 | Colbert didn't actually interview Mark Foley, but instead supposedly sent the former representative an SMS/IM (a reference to the scandal that forced Foley to resign his seat). |
| 34 | New Jersey - 4 | Carol Gay (D) | October 12 | Representative Chris Smith declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed his challenger instead (defeated). |
| 35 | New York - 19 | John Hall (D) | October 19 | Representative Sue W. Kelly declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed her challenger instead. John Hall subsequently won his race with 51%[7], the only interviewed challenger from '06 to do so. He reappeared on the show the next day (November 8). |
| 36 | California - 30 | David Nelson Jones (R) | November 1 | Representative Henry Waxman declined to be on the show, so Colbert interviewed his challenger instead (defeated). |
Spin-offs
Better Know a Challenger
Occasionally, when a representative has declined to be on the show, Colbert has instead interviewed their challenger in the midterm elections. In these cases, the segment is known as "Better Know a Challenger," with different intro graphics.
After the segment, the district is colored on the Better Know a District map in goldenrod instead of amber, which is said to be the color all other districts are filled in with. It will be upgraded to amber if the challenger wins the 2006 election, or downgraded to cadmium yellow if they lose. Of course, it is nearly impossible to see the distinction between these shades on the map. Of the five challengers interviewed, only John Hall defeated an incumbent.
In the instance of New Jersey's 3rd congressional district, Colbert frequently referred to challenger Rich Sexton as representative Jim Saxton, a joke on the similarity of their names.
Better Know a Protectorate
On March 16, 2006, Colbert introduced a four-part series entitled Better Know a Protectorate. Focusing on the protectorates (more correctly, unincorporated territories) of the United States (which send nonvoting delegates to Congress), the segment differs in name only with Better Know a District; the formula and "Big Board" remain the same. The United States Virgin Islands was the protectorate that was covered. The remaining ones are Puerto Rico, Guam, Northern Mariana Islands, and American Samoa, which have yet to be featured (although the Northern Marianas Islands do not even have a nonvoting member).
Better Know a Founder
On March 1, 2006, Colbert introduced the "56-part" Better Know a Founder, an in-depth look at the signers of the Declaration of Independence. Using the same formula as Better Know a District, Colbert's first subject in the series was a spotlight of an interview with "Battlin'" Ben Franklin; the actor Ralph Archbold portrayed Franklin for the interview, with both he and Colbert wearing period clothing. Most of the hallmarks of the original segment remained, either in an altered form (e.g., King George: Great king, or the greatest king?) or unchanged (e.g., Colbert asks Franklin if he had taken money from Jack Abramoff).
On November 15, 2006, the second installment of BKAF featured three actors portraying President Thomas Jefferson in an America's Next Top Model style segment, America's Top Jefferson.
Better Know a President
On May 17, 2006, Colbert introduced Better Know a President, a 43-part series that would refresh the viewer's memory of the accomplishments of every President in United States history. The first president covered was Theodore Roosevelt, played by Roosevelt impersonator Jim Foot. In keeping with the running gags of the segment, he asked Roosevelt if the Spanish American War was merely a great war of American imperialism, or the greatest war of American imperialism.
Meet an Ally
On August 3rd, 2006 Stephen began the first segment in a series entitled "Meet an Ally" in which he examines nations part of the "Coalition of the Willing". He began the series by interviewing the ambassador of Palau, Stuart Beck.
Betterer Know A District
When Colbert shows an extended segment of an interview at a later date, he calls the segment "Betterer Know A District".
Better Know A Memory
On November 8th, 2006, some representatives that were profiled in Better Know a District and have since been re-elected were reintroduced in a short segment that immediately preceded the commercial breaks. A humorous clip from the BKAD interview would be shown and the words "RETURNED TO CONGRESS" would be rubber stamped onto the still image of the representative. The subjects reintroduced were Eliot L. Engel, Brad Sherman, Lynn Westmoreland, and Robert Wexler.
References
- ^ Interviews no laughing matter for local notables at Boston Globe
- ^ "Laugh, and the Voters Laugh With You, or at Least at You", New York Times, Week in Review p.1, Feb. 26, 2006.
- ^ Stephen Colbert's Bipartisan Outreach Effort at Wonkette.com
- ^ Politicians relish comic's needling The Washington Times
- ^ Puzzanghera, Jim (2006-10-22). "Los Angeles Times". Running for office? Better run from Colbert. Retrieved 2006-10-23.
{{cite news}}: Check date values in:|date=(help) - ^ The Colbert Rapport transcripts
- ^ New York's 19th Congressional District election results
