CBS News ‘PublicEye’ Blog is fascinated by Stephen Colbert and ‘I Am America (And So Can You!)’
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Matthew Felling of the ‘PublicEye’ blog at CBSNews.com admits to marveling at the enigma that is Stephen Colbert.
He’s Stephen Colbert (But He’s Not!)
October 9, 2007, 11:11 AMToday’s the day. “I Am America (And So Can You!)” – the first book by Stephen Colbert’s alter ego – is out today in bookstores across America. (What? You never read “Wigfield?” Get thee to a Border’s!) A Washington Post slightly-humorless review came out today – why even mention verifying his truthiness? — and it’s lukewarm on the book:
“[N]one of “I Am America” rings as uncomfortably true as Colbert’s blistering speech at the 2006 White House Correspondents’ Dinner, which is reprinted as an appendix here. While the humor in the book at times feels blunted and overly general, at the dinner he had a specific target: President Bush sitting just a few feet away from him and the journalists and politicians in the tables before him…Reading it now, you also can get a sense of the political convictions behind the comedian, the convictions that sharpened his jokes and that emboldened him to make them at such a historically cozy event. Funny as “I Am America” is, it lacks that critical force.”
Not having read the book, I can’t render judgement on whether or not I like it. But I do know there are myriad reasons why Stephen Colbert is fascinating: his razor-sharp satire; his deadpan delivery; his speed-of-light quick wit.
But I’ve got my own reason for being fascinated by Colbert: He’s an enigma.
That’s right. The guy who’s seemingly ubiquitous from magazine covers to ice cream containers to presenting Emmy Awards?
An enigma.
Somehow, in the multimedia/blogistan/500 channel world, very few people know who Stephen Colbert is. Sure, everybody with a TV (or just an Internet connection, actually) and a pulse knows who “Stephen Colbert” is, but take away the quotation marks and he’s nearly an unknown. That’s completely a strategy, I understand, to maintain the persona in the public’s mind. But it’s also a shame.
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