Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist (March 6, 2007)

It may be a little redundant to even bother with a zeitgeist post when the news and the ‘net are full of one Dr. Stephen T. Colbert, DFA, but here goes:

A poll Stephen isn’t winning?

• Entertainment Weekly asks, “Who’s your favorite ‘Daily Show’ alum?” The poll is at the bottom of the page . . . and the man in the lead isn’t Stephen.

Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert

• Matt Lappin (Associate Producer, The Colbert Report and Writer/Consultant, Strangers with Candy) will be performing as part of “The F**k Monkeys Unite” this Friday, March 9th at the Park Side Lounge. Details are available here.
• Full Grown Men, featuring Amy Sedaris, will screen on March 9th and 10th at the Miami International Film Festival.

Another Brit laments the absence of Colbert Report-type satire on the airwaves

• Marcus Isn’t Stephen – WilcosWorld: “Meanwhile over in American [sic] The Daily Show With Jon Stewart, and The Colbert Report, have developed a reputation as some of the sharpest political commentary shows on American television.

  The Colbert Report is a fine example of ‘ooh, you can’t say that’, that has mostly gone from UK screens. For example, on the day of the death of Rosa Parks, presenter Stephen Colbert described her as ‘over-rated’, after which the audience howled with shock. I am amazed they got away with this, and although the section was obviously an attack on racism and complacency, and not on Parks, it still would never have been broadcast on a UK program.”

YouTube and Viacom, Part . . . I don’t even remember what number we’re on

• Viacom Online Jumps after YouTube Split – NewTeeVee: “Ah, Viacom and YouTube, once such a cute couple! Sure, the breakup was messy, but now they both seem to be doing fine. In its earnings call this week Viacom said traffic to its Comedy Central website had increased 90 percent since it requested removal of all its video clips from YouTube. Traffic to MTV’s and Nickelodeon’s sites was also up significantly, Viacom said.”
• Google moves YouTube ahead – San Francisco Chronicle: “Google and YouTube have something to gain from the deals, too. For the company to make money from advertising — and the potential is huge, with an estimated $70 billion to $80 billion spent in television advertising — Google and YouTube need the premium videos. Because viewers are more likely to watch these clips than myriad user-generated ones, advertisers are willing to pay more for them.

  ‘You will not make money advertising against a Lonelygirl15,’ McQuivey said, referring to the faux teenage actress that became a sensation on YouTube last year. ‘Someone watching ‘The Colbert Report’ is worth more to an advertiser than some video submitted by a teenager.’”

• TV networks embrace the YouTube model – Washington Post: “Ever conscious of a good trend, TV networks and advertisers are increasingly adopting the YouTube model of viewer-created content.

  . . .

  VH1 and Nickelodeon are both in the MTV Networks family, which is owned by Viacom. These networks are focused largely on younger demographics, so it’s not surprising that they’ve targeted user-generated content more than most.

  ‘Clearly, there’s a directive from on high that this is the direction we should be headed in,’ says Hirschorn.

  Others have also delved into the user-generated pool, including the CW network, MTV and Comedy Central’s ‘The Colbert Report,’ which invited submissions for a ‘Green Screen Challenge’ last year.”

The Fox News contract with the Nevada State Democratic Party

• Carson City Democratic Chairman on the FOX debate fight – Dullard Mush: “Personally, I despise FOX News and have blocked it from all the TV sets in my house. I don’t like the fact that this decision was made with no input from any County Chair or NSDP Executive Board member, but the fact is it was. That said, I know many Democrats that watch FOX — like it or not, many, many people do. As Chris points out, we have a great group of candidates and the opportunity we have to reach those who otherwise would not get our message is significant. Frankly, I would prefer to see Stephen Colbert moderate the debate on The Comedy Channel. If that were the case, or if it were covered on any other network, FOX would cover it and spin it in a way only FOX can.”

Ha ha ha! What a suggestion!

• Stephen Colbert Celebrates Manilow Ice Cream!!! – Barry Fun: “….well, not really but seriously folks, Ben&Jerry’s only does a couple of celebrity flavors each year and why not Barry (or Berry Manilow?).”

Rep. Yarmuth on Thursday’s BKAD

• Yarmuth courts the comedy vote – The Courier-Journal: “Public life is risky enough without tempting the fates, but Rep. John Yarmuth seems to be dancing in front of them with his tongue out.

  The 3rd District Democrat has agreed to be the target of Comedy Central’s “The Colbert Report.” If you haven’t seen the program, suffice it to say that some political people don’t come off well under the barbed, satirical, off-the-wall jesting of host Stephen Colbert.

  . . .

  Yarmuth said he played along with Colbert in the interview, which the lawmaker said had to be stopped several times because of excessive laughter.”

Gratuitous name dropping

• ‘Nightly News’ Names New Producer – Washington Post: “Wallace said she plans no ‘drastic changes’ at the newscast. Asked whether Williams, an occasional ‘Daily Show’ guest, should inject more of himself into the program, she said: ‘I think Brian is the best at what he does. He has an amazing personality outside of here. Having said that, it’s a nightly news show. We’re not doing the Stephen Colbert show.’”
• For Rep. Sanchez, a hot-tomato label means a hot potato – Los Angeles Times: “Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert then devoted an entire ‘Colbert Report’ segment to pondering, ‘Is Loretta Sanchez a whore?’ (No, the comedian decided.) Last week, several caucus members unsuccessfully tried to oust Baca, a Democrat from Rialto, as the group’s chairman, the Hill newspaper reported.”
• And the winner is … – Sioux City Journal: “Fans of Comedy Central’s ‘Colbert Report’ may recall host Stephen Colbert bragging about his Telly Award. G.R. Lindblade & Co. has two of those. The most recent was for ‘All Access,’ the Saturday in the Park book and DVD project, which was awarded a Bronze Telly.” [Editor's note: Really? You wanna compare trophy counts with Stephen?]
• Shredfest Engage – The Village Voice: “Emotionally these two bands [Killswitch Engage and Dragonforce] couldn’t possibly be any more diametrically opposed—one seems to be directly, derisively aping the other. It’s like having Bill O’Reilly and Stephen Colbert on the same bill. Is modern metal better dead-serious or dead-friggin’-stupid? The people will decide.”
• Blogging To Victory? – Hotline On Call: (From the “Conservative Political Action Conference”): “David All touched on his efforts to put his former boss Rep. Jack Kingston (R-GA) in front of as many eyes as possible, even if that meant venturing into enemy territory like the Bill Maher and Stephen Colbert shows.”

Edited because I (inexcusably) failed to credit WordsWithGrace for the tips on the EW.com poll and the MIFF screenings. Thanks, WWG! Mea culpa.

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