Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist (February 5, 2007)

Evidently, Stephen has decided to stay out of the headlines for a day or two; here is your (brief) Colbert-related news roundup for February 5, 2007:

BKAD follow up (a little bit of falsiness)

• Altmire blows whistle on ‘The Colbert Report’ – The Hill.com: “Can you imagine a fake news show stretching the traditional boundaries of journalism? The horror! But it happens more than you might think.

  When Rep. Jason Altmire (D-Pa.) and satirist Stephen Colbert did Florida State’s Tomahawk Chop last month on ‘The Colbert Report,’ Colbert was not in Altmire’s Washington office as he said he was.”

Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert – Allison Silverman

• Yale alumni move up in the world of comedy – Yale Daily News: Yale’s alums are enjoying an impressive run on Comedy Central – “Another Yale graduate, Allison Silverman ’94, is a former staff writer for ‘The Daily Show’ who now works as the supervising producer and co-head writer for its spin-off, ‘The Colbert Report.’ All of the Yalies involved in the popular ‘fake news’ programs stressed that the concentration of Yale alumni in prominent positions at ‘The Daily Show’ is pure coincidence — but some also said it reflects the strength of the comedy scene at the University and should offer hope to Yale students hoping to break into the field.”

Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert – Robert Schneider

• Here’s the proof: Math + music mix for band’s front man – Lexington Herald Leader: The Apples in Stereo’s Robert Schneider is both a musician and mathematician – “‘There are so few people who really love mathematics, so few people who really see the beauty behind it,’ says Leep, who grasped the magnitude of Apples in Stereo’s fame only after seeing Schneider on The Colbert Report on Comedy Central in December. ‘There was lots of raw talent that’s quite unrefined. Clearly, what was going on in his mind was good, accurate mathematics.’”

Laughing at the Boston ATHF scare

• Hub’s fright fodder for comics – Times Argus: “On Comedy Central, Stephen Colbert reported that Boston was besieged by what were ‘clearly the Lite-Brite doodlings of terrorists.’

  . . .

  Colbert lamented that thanks to [the guerrilla marketers], he would have to cancel the marketing campaigns he had planned.

  ‘For instance, to market my new show, ‘Time to Travel,’ I was going to go to major American airports and leave unmarked suitcases with clock radios taped to them,’ he said. ‘To get the word out on my winter-themed charity gala, I was sending out envelopes filled with fake snow.’”

Cable feuds lead back to O’Reilly

• TV gets bloggy with feuds – Variety.com: “Most roads, in fact, lead to O’Reilly, the Fox News star who can’t resist retaliating against any perceived slight, even against relatively obscure sources. Recent higher-profile targets have included ‘The View’s’ Joy Behar (for criticizing his comments about a long-missing, then-found child), ‘The Daily Show’ (despite a cross-promotional stunt with ‘The Colbert Report’), U.S. TV critics and NBC News, which he accused last week of drifting into ‘dangerous territory’ in making a ‘dramatic shift to the left,’ while awkwardly stretching to link CNBC anchor Maria Bartiromo’s ethics cloud to the network’s alleged bias.”