Stephen Colbert in the Zeitgeist (April 14, 2007)

Man, I am overdue to organize and post my collection of Colbert-related bookmarked stories. Here’s your zeitgeist for the 14th!

Eleanor Holmes Norton “represents” for D.C.

• Popular culture movement for D.C. vote ramping up – Washington Examiner: “From blogs to rock music, District of Columbia voting rights advocates are tapping into popular culture as they seek to educate the public about the city’s lack of a full vote in Congress.

  . . .

  But perhaps the most far-reaching cultural manifestation did come from a politician, when Del. Norton appeared on the ‘Better Know a District’ segment of Stephen Colbert’s popular Comedy Central television show in July. Unfazed by his taunting mock-interview, Norton was tough right back in her defense of voting rights.

  Although Norton says she doesn’t usually watch Colbert, hundreds of thousands of young viewers across the country do – a sign that she, too, has found a place in the popular culture movement.”

  [Editor's note: I don't actually live in D.C., but I strongly feel that the District's lack of a (voting) representative in Congress is shameful. Washington, D.C. is home to well over half a million people, none of whom have an adequate voice in Congress (despite Del. Norton's noble efforts). In case you're wondering, that's more than the population of the state of Wyoming and only some 50,000 fewer than live in the state of Vermont. No taxation without representation!]

It’s so much cooler than being sponsored by, say, Coke or Pepsi

• STANFORD: TV HOST COLBERT SPONSORING TURTLE IN RACE – cbs5.com (Bay City News Wire): “A Stanford University graduate student has devised a way to turn the annual migration of an endangered reptile into something you can bet on.

  The Great Turtle Race will focus on the 950-mile journey of 11 endangered female leatherback turtles from a Costa Rican beach to the waters off the Galapagos Islands. Just like NASCAR and other professional races these turtles each have their own corporate sponsor and in one case a celebrity sponsor — television humorist Stephen Colbert.”

Will Holland be “On Notice” next?

• Comedy Central is expanding its global reach into the Netherlands, but The Colbert Report won’t be a part of the lineup. Weep for Stephen’s Dutch fans.

Six Degrees of Stephen Colbert

• Jon Stewart to perform two shows at the Tower Theater (Upper Darby, PA) on April 27, 2007: Ticket information here
• Jon Stewart: interview with WXPN radio available here
• John Oliver to perform at Western Washington University on April 21, 2007: Online tickets available here
• Footage from Bill Bradley, backstage at The Daily Show (April 9th): video available here
• Pete Dominick (sometime warm-up comedian for The Daily Show and The Colbert Report) in this week’s “It Is It!” lineup (April 16th, Piano’s, NYC)

It’s about that time again: The White House Correspondents’ Dinner is only a week away

• White House Correspondents’ Dinner Gets ‘Desperate’ – Editor & Publisher: “It may lack Stephen Colbert this year, but it looks like this year’s White House Correspondents Association Dinner will have a desperate air to it — ‘Desperate Housewives’ that is. Two top stars from the ABC show, Teri Hatcher and James Denton, as well as creator Marc Cherry, are among the VIPs slated to attend the annual dinner, set for April 21. Rich Little, the impressonist, will be the host.”
• Ed.: Well, Stephen isn’t going to be at the WHCD this year, but that doesn’t mean he wasn’t invited.

Today’s fashion accessory of choice

• Administration Accessories – DCist: “The owner of Backwards Bush says he uses the clock as “a coping mechanism,” and doesn’t mean any disrespect. The trinkets have been appearing in the hands of Democrats all over the country. Stephen Colbert has the $9 item. This week Sen. Barak Obama pimped them on ‘The Late Show with David Letterman’. Democratic Congressmen passed them out. Even the ultimate Washington power couple, Bill and Hillary Clinton, have one.
• More on this little item here:
  
  • Hour gang – Boston Globe: “‘You cannot fight against the future,’ William Gladstone famously said. ‘Time is on our side.’

    With all due respect to the late British prime minister, how times have changed. Whose side is time really on these days, one wonders. Does it wait for no man — or all the president’s men?

    Consider the Backwards Bush key chain, a $9 novelty item that features a built-in, reverse-ticking timepiece and what seems to be a straightforward message: I Cannot Wait for the Bush Presidency to Be Over.

    . . .

    Of the 50,000 key chains sold to date, most have undoubtedly wound up in Democrat-friendly hands. Governor Bill Richardson of New Mexico reportedly owns two. Bill and Hillary Clinton each received one from an Arkansas friend. Historian Arthur Schlesinger Jr. and ‘Colbert Report’ host Stephen Colbert have flashed theirs in public.”

  • Want one of your own? Go here: www.backwardsbush.com. They’ve also got a link to Stephen featuring it on his show (this may work; it was giving me trouble earlier, though).

Shout outs, references and gratuitous name-dropping

• Tough-talker Henry Rollins Is Back, Keeping Things Israel – TVGuide.com: “TVGuide.com: The Smothers Brothers, Dick Cavett and Mike Douglas had guests in the late ’60s and early ’70s that were actively protesting Vietnam. Do you see people like yourself, Bill Maher and Jon Stewart as the new generation of talk-show hosts carrying that anti-war torch?

  Rollins: Sure. But I don’t see it as anti-war, I see it as pro-truth. The truth is an anti-war statement in itself. It’s just saying, ‘Look, your fake war in Iraq is not working. Don’t say Sunni and Shia are going to have their civil war in Indiana. No one is following us home. You’ve screwed up enough and allowed enough kids to die.’ So yeah, I think it’s time for truth to be spoken to power. Jon Stewart and Steve Colbert use humor; I use confrontation. All I want is the truth, and I’ll live with whatever that may be.”

• Dance party based on Tarantino’s movies bound to be a killer – The Courier-Journal (Louisville, KY): “The Decemberists is a hyper-intelligent band smart enough to not act smarter than everyone else. Although it easily could, the Portland, Ore. quintet doesn’t take itself too seriously — can you imagine Conor Oberst challenging Stephen Colbert to a guitar solo duel on ‘The Colbert Report’? No. Never.” [Editor's note: Hey! That had better not be a slam on Bright Eyes!]
• The Public Interest – TPMCafe: “Our news media has a cancer and I believe it can be cured by submitting news to a simple test: does it serve the public interest? Or does it serve the needs of a minority of ideologues who do not represent the best America has to offer? Under this standard, there would be more stories about the imperial presidency because it serves the public interest. There would be no stories about Nancy Pelosi ‘surrendering’ to the Syrians because it only serves the worldview of right-wing fanatics. Most important, facts serve the public interest, and lies never do. Sadly, it seems most journalists failed to recognize that Stephen Colbert is a satirist, because they seem to believe that reality indeed has a well-known liberal bias. And reality, most of all, serves the public interest.”