Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist (February 12, 2007)

Snippets of Stephen in the news and on the ‘net:

Viacom vs. YouTube

• Viacom moves on without YouTube – CNet News.com: “The company recently began offering so-called embed code that allows fans of popular programs such as the The Daily Show and The Colbert Report to post clips to their MySpace.com pages or blogs. That embed code duplicates one of the more popular features of YouTube: the ability to easily post videos on other Web sites and blogs.” [Editor's note: Unless Comedy Central's revamp allows users to upload their own creations, contests like the Greenscreen Challenge are likely going to have to stay in the "Dearly Departed" category.]
• YouTube purges LiberalViewer’s account – sacbee.com (subscription required): “For the past seven months, Asch had posted short news analyses, using brief clips from Fox News, CNN and two Viacom-owned shows — ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show With Jon Stewart’ — as jumping-off points for his political musings. Ironically, one of the links to a LiberalViewer posting was on Comedy Central’s own Web site.

  In November, YouTube took down several of Asch’s videos. But during the intervening months, he had posted with nary a response from YouTube or Viacom — until this week.

  . . .

  But Asch worries that Viacom and YouTube have “‘cast too wide a net without making the legally required good-faith effort to make sure (content taken down) is actually infringing material.’”

• Comedy Central Plans Youtube Competitor – Cleveland Leader: “Viacom had ulterior motives when the demanded Youtube to take down clips. Some of the more popular clips on Youtube come via Comedy Central, and the company is planning on creating a portal on their Comedy Central portal where users can post clips of their favorite South Park, Colbert Show[sic], Daily Show, or other Comedy Central favorites.”

WØRD Envy

• Carl Welser: That’s the arbantuous truthiness -LivingstonDaily.com: “I am plainly jealous of Stephen Colbert — he of the infamous ‘Colber’ Repor” — seen daily and nightly on Comedy Central. Not everyone thinks him worthy of envy. Colbert is rather despised in some circles. Oddly enough, Davey, my 14-year old grandson, dotes on him.
  But you’ve got to credit Colbert with originality. Just over a year ago he fabricated a new word — ‘truthiness.’ Already, his new word is being considered for inclusion in major dictionaries.

  . . .

  There are good reasons for my lapse into ‘word envy’ over truthiness.

  I have been trying for 30 years to introduce a new word to the English language. I would like to see my word included in a dictionary some day. But dictionaries only deal with words in common usage.”

Skepticism in Arkansas

• Up for Mike; down for Mike – Arkansas News Bureau: “[Down:] Vic Snyder – He’ll be a guest Wednesday night on the Colbert Report on Comedy Central. I’m wondering how that could possibly be good. Perhaps he’ll show me.”

His cheatin’ heart

• Apples in Stereo Expand, Kick Off Tour – Pitchforkmedia.com: “[T]he band is scheduled to perform on “Late Night With Conan O’Brien” on February 14. Valentine’s Day canoodling with Conan after last year’s late night Colbert affair, Robert Schneider? We’re very disappointed in you!”

Shout outs, references, and gratuitous name dropping

• The Police can’t spark show – Toronto Star: “Too bad reports of Stephen Colbert hosting the show proved false. Comic relief was sorely wanting.”
• Ethics Rebuke for Doping Chief Reignites a Feud With Armstrong – New York Times: “‘It’s not common that the I.O.C. comes out and issues a reprimand or a warning about one of their members at all,’ Armstrong said in a telephone call yesterday from New York, where he was to tape an appearance on the Comedy Central show ‘The Colbert Report’ this week. ‘This is as close to a censure as it could get.’”
• Twenty questions with John McEnroe – Northwest Herald: “19. Why didn’t ‘The Chair’ work?

  They put us up against ‘Everybody Loves Raymond’at some point. The last show we did was, like, 5 1/2 million people. That was a lot of people still. It was a fun experience to try. And so was the CNBC one. That was a lot more work than I envisioned. I would definitely try to employ some of those tactics. Your suggestion to sort of combine the best of both – I’m thinking about getting myself into something else, whether it’s radio or some type of media besides commentary. I’d like to get another shot at it when I’ve got a little more experience. A lot of that … I didn’t have writers the first four months of that CNBC show. You look at Stephen Colbert and Jon Stewart – who are great writers to begin with – and then they’ve got 10 other people writing with them. I’m thinking, ‘I’m a tennis brat that’s got nobody!’ I felt like I was thrown to a will.” [Editor's note: Thrown to a "will"?]

• Singer/songwriter Roy Zimmerman carries on the Tom Lehrer tradition of political satire with a contemporary twist – Santa Cruz Sentinel.com: “Until Tom Lehrer comes out of retirement, Stephen Colbert picks up a guitar or ‘Weird Al’ Yankovic starts attending anti-war rallies, the title of World’s Greatest Political Satirist Musical Division is clearly up for grabs. If you’re looking for contenders, fans of Bay Area singer/songwriter Roy Zimmerman will tell you they’ve got the man.”