Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist (March 11, 2007)

TiVo warning: Daylight savings change may cause recording problems

• No Time Saved – My Name Is Earl Kress Blog: “Of course, par for the course when dealing with any telephone customer service, the lady from TiVo was wrong when she said the times would automatically reset tonight. Not only will the times of the programs not reset, but the actual time will not reset for three weeks, when daylight savings used to start. They claim this will only affect your manual recordings, of which I have many to weed out recording unnecessary repeats. (Yes, I know you can set a Season Pass for ‘first run only’, but somehow it doesn’t seem to work with shows like The Daily Show or The Colbert Report.)”

Our “frenemy” gets into the satire game

• Groundswell of sarcastic humor begins to undermine China’s censors – Austin American-Statesman: “It’s a Chinese form of ‘truthiness’ that might make Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert proud.

  China’s Southern Metropolis Weekly magazine recently reported this shocking news: The central government created universal health care for the country’s 1.3 billion people, wiped out bribery and reduced the country’s wide income gap.

  Migrant workers in the southern city of Guangzhou, notorious for its sweatshops, were ‘happy’ and ‘respected,’ the magazine reported in its print and Web editions.

  Of course, it was political parody. And all untrue.”

Some basics for newcomers to the satire genre (I’m lookin at you, Fox News!)

• Satire 101: Con amore – p3 (Persuasion, Peseverance, & Patience) Blog: “Con amore–that was a watchword of a fellow I was privileged to teach rhetorical theory in the same department with, in another lifetime. Even with an interlocutor whose position you’d spend your lifetime working to refute, he insisted, the only proper way to do so is with a stance that is nevertheless charitable, respectful–not because it’s ethically or tactically correct, but because by choosing the tools of rhetoric you can’t do it any other way. That decision’s already been made when you decided to talk to the guy and not beat him with a club.

  . . . Colbert’s on-screen character says and does appalling things, but not because he’s evil or hateful (and remember, this is as close as anyone’s likely to get to a direct send-up of O’Reilly himself), but simply because, as Colbert plays him, he’s self-important, thoughtless, and largely unable to understand the way people see him. These aren’t the characteristics of a monster; they’re among the flaws that make us all recognizably human. And that’s why we like the Colbert character, perhaps even in spite of ourselves.”

Northwestern’s “Dance Marathon” gets a little Stephen Colbert love

• Dance Marathon: And only the dancers remain – North by Northwestern: “All non-dancers (and media personnel!) have been kicked out of Norris, meaning this is the dancer’s time. A celebrity video featuring NU alum and uber-funny man Stephen Colbert just played on screen, and may have topped the Obama speech. Definitely the funniest moment of the night.”

“Do eagles have a right to privacy?”

• a mixed bag of green news – The Alternative Consumer Blog: “Follow this link, Bald Eagle Nest Cam, to invade Stephen Colbert’s favorite avian’s space. Do eagles have a right to privacy?” [Editor's note: Hee!]

“Easter Under Attack”

• Chocolate bunny meltdown: Media hops all over Walnut Creek and its renamed egg hunt – San Francisco Chronicle: “Stephen Colbert, whose character is a humorous parody of conservative talk-show hosts, billed his segment ‘Easter Under Attack,” and specifically mentioned Walnut Creek. Colbert added a tongue-in-cheek warning ‘to keep your eyes open and your marshmallow Peeps close to your chest.’

  . . .

  ‘It is absolutely amazing,’ says Mayor Sue Rainey. ‘The thing is, it happened five years ago. This is ridiculous.’

  And the sleepy, tree-lined East Bay suburb hardly deserves to be singled out for national attention. You’d be hard-pressed to find a city that hasn’t renamed its Easter egg hunt.”

Gratuitous name dropping

• JON FRIEDMAN’S MEDIA WEB: Bill Maher isn’t the same as Ann Coulter – MarketWatch: “Maher is a comedian; Coulter is a pundit. He’s supposed to make us laugh.

  Like Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert, Maher is an acerbically witty fellow on his best days. He makes a living by telling jokes, putting down the Bush administration and making droll comments. Remember, ‘Real Time with Bill Maher’ and ‘Politically Incorrect?’ How about his HBO Comedy specials like ‘I’m Swiss,’ ‘Victory Begins at Home’ and ‘Be More Cynical?’”

• [Same source as above]: “MEDIA WEB QUESTION OF THE DAY: Do you think comedians such as Bill Maher, Jon Stewart and Stephen Colbert should be considered political commentators?”
• Believe the buzz — or not? – Sacbee.com: “In the past month, the new and mysterious honeybee ailment known as ‘colony collapse disorder,’ which seems to cause entire hives of bees to leave home and never return, has made the front page of newspapers from Sacramento to New York. Fox News and National Public Radio aired reports. A ‘CBS Evening News’ crew spent weeks following a bee-disease investigator around the nation. Even Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert took up the issue, urging investors to hoard bees.”

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