I vote for a bit of both… Excerpt from an interview with NYT columnist Marureen Dowd on The Harvard Political Review on-line site:
Harvard Political Review: How do you react to the idea that a greater proportion of young people watch the Daily Show or the Colbert Report than the Nightly News? Is this a bad thing? How does the recent surge in popular fake news outlets affect the way real news operates?
Maureen Dowd: Well, I watch the Colbert Report and the Daily Show more than I watch the nightly news. And I really think the alarm about that is silly, because I think if you watch Colbert and Stewart, you learn a lot. One time I was watching Stewart and I had done my column and it was past the first deadline. He’ll show clips of what you might have missed, and in this case I think it was Senator Cornyn saying something incredibly wacky that really fit into my column so I ran over to the phone and I thought, “I’m going to get that message in!” I remember once when a publisher asked him, “How do you get all those clips where you hold Bush accountable for what he said six months ago or three years ago and what he’s saying now?” And very deadpan Steward [sic] responded that “All you need is an intern and a video machine.” There is a lot of news on their shows, a lot of information as well as the humor. So, I think it’s fantastic. I think it’s analogous to kids reading Harry Potter, inspiring kids to read. I went on the Colbert show for my first book, and it spoiled me because you’re talking about all this kind of politics stuff and either the audience is really savvy from watching him every night, or they just love him and laugh a lot. Then I went on Letterman and made a joke about Paul Krugman and Letterman and the audience were just dead silent. And at the break, I said to Letterman I promise if you ever invite me back I’ll never make another Paul Krugman joke.
…
I am savvy and high at the same time (not on narcotics, I mean). I don’t think one can help get sucked into Colbert’s persona. I think though that there has to be a level of intelligence to fully enjoy both The Daily Show and The Colbert Report thoroughly.
*deposits two cents*
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Hey i have a little idea i wanna bounce of everyone. I hope the writers and or Stephen are reading this. I just watched Jeff Dunham’s Arguing With Myself on Comedy Central a few minutes ago. I think he should be one of Stephen’s guests. Or one one of his puppets. I’d love to see how Stephen “the character” would react to hearing a puppet speak. Wh do you think?
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I’m really not familiar with Jeff Dunham, but honestly, puppets creep me out (unless they’re being accompanied by the sounds of “The Lonely Goatherd” and voiced by Julie Andrews).
I’m biased, though. While I love a good celebrity/”personality” interview as much as the next gal (that early one with Dermot Mulroney was hysterical), my favorite Stephen interviews tend to feature scientists and/or particularly erudite authors.
Back on topic, I really don’t ever watch Letterman, but even *I* could have guessed a Paul Krugman joke wouldn’t have been a winner in that environment. Geez!
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“…even *I* could have guessed a Paul Krugman joke wouldn’t have been a winner in that environment. Geez!”
But that’s because you’re so *savvy*, MsI. ;P
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See, now you’re mocking me with the kindness … :)
Oh, and regarding my “I find puppets creepy” comment above, I should also add the caveat that anything created by Jim Henson is exempt from that condemnation. Long live the Muppets!
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I do really like Jeff Dunham.
Why is it that I tend to like comedians that have multiple personalities…? What is it about borderline schizophrenia (other than the fact that I’m pretty sure I’m at that point…)?
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Jeff Dunham is AWESOME! What a brilliant idea TruthPower! I got to see him do a live show earlier this year and he totally brought the house down. I think it would be fantastic if he and Walter did a stint on the show. Jeff is pretty fast on his feet, though probably not as fast as Stephen. But I think the rapport would be fantastic.
Besides, Jeff told the audience that night that he’s got a Christmas DVD coming out this year (featuring Achmed in a Santa hat), so maybe a brief promo for it isn’t totally out of order.
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I think she hit the nail on the head about making politics more palatable:
… I said I would never take humor out of politics. I think it’s a fantastic way to tell the truth, but to take a fresh angle that can lure people in and tell them something true.
Just the fact alone that both shows have young people talking about politics again truly shows how valuable they both are, whether or not folks get all of their news solely from both shows. It amazes me how both Jon and Stephen are still pretty humble about their impact in society today.
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I’ve been reading “The Daily Show and Philosophy”, and a ‘recent’ chapter did indeed point out that Jon often tries to downplay his ‘understanding’ as it were, using examples that the book says highlights his modesty in his impact of the debate in this country.
A very interesting conclusion drawn by the book, and one that didnt actually hit me at all until I read it (among the many high-falootin philosophy-major words that I dont understand/know), is that Jon isnt arguing for democrats/liberals and that hes against republicans/conservatives, but that he is trying to set and encourage honest debate. The book talks about how he is equipping young people today, who are then compared to the young people in Socrates’ (or was it Plato’s) day, to engage in debate from both sides of the issues, and be able to intelligently identify the pro/con/true/false of each argument.
I bet David Letterman would never be able to go toe-to-toe with Jon and Stephen!
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Wow, “The Daily Show and Philosophy”! I’ve never heard of this book, but I’m very intrigued!
Jon repeatedly distinguishes between the noise-makers at both extremes of the political spectrum and “most of the rest of us” here in the middle. What both the 2006 midterm election and the upcoming 2008 election season has hopefully done is pushed us quieter middle-folk to be louder in our middleness, working to find common ground and bridges between those a little further out on either end, thereby creating a larger, stronger middle. I think both Jon and Stephen, in their individual, very distinct way, are helping us middlers find our voice.
Or maybe I’m just being blindly idealistic. (Sheepishly steps down from soapbox, wondering how he%! I got up there in the first place.)
[Hee hee - reCAPTCHA: skeptical Mrs. Oh, the irony!]
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Shakespeare is probably smiling, his “fools” always told the truth as well.
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I can say, from the point of view of those of us who are just now beginning to be able to participate in politics, that TDS and TCR are a big part our being savvy.
It’s not so much the question of whether we’re savvy or we’re sucked in by the humor. In my opinion is more the fact that we’re savvy because we’re sucked in by the humor.
The humor captures our attention, and you can’t watch the show and walk away without inadvertently learning something in the process.
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From your lips to the Emmy people’s ears!
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Here, here!
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Hey, Harvard Political Review, I think Maureen Dowd meant “Jonathan Swift and Evelyn Waugh”, not “Johnathan Swift and Evelyn Wong.”
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Johnathan Swift and Evelyn Wong
- I think that’s the “Elite” spelling…
Way to edit Harvard! :D
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i didn’t understand that one poll that stated that tds viewers watch more news than tcr viewers. like tcr viewers are just colbert-zombies. i care a lot about the news and what is going on in the world. i have also gotten to travel a lot in the past, and what i like about tcr is that you get a lot of different perspectives (all filtered through colbert’s character’s deluded worldview:)
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gina24,
agreed. I had always assumed that pretty much all tds viewers are tcr viewers. Although I can imagine a bit more of the conservative crowd tuning in to Stephen; drawing my ‘conclusion’ based off of Tom Delay’s willingness to go on, and Fox News Morning Friends* using clips of the show as material (I guess i just cant imagine them using tds clips, not that I watch it)
* (or whatever the show’s name is; I prefer to think of it as “The fox morning show thats not Good Morning America”………….
I dont really watch gma either…)
…. dud joke, even I think so
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I have a pretty solid mix of conservative and liberal viewpoints and I do find that I enjoy Stephen’s show a little more, but I can certainly tell when he’s in character and means the opposite of what he is saying:)
Also, his show probably appeals to a wider audience since it does not follow as narrow a political path and branches out to non-controversial subject matter such as the dance-off or Portrait of Stephen.
I think of him as a very unifying figure who can bring liberals and conservatives together. Maybe that’s just me.
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yes, c-girl27, he is the obama of cable satire!
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I’m with Maija on this one.
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