Friday Free-for-all: Poconos edition
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Howdy, Zoners! Holy cow, it’s been a crazy week. We arrived at the Poconos on Saturday and the fall foliage was at its peak. Absolutely gorgeous. The only problem with our cabin is that if I stand by one window, and hold my iPhone just right, I can get e-mail. But no internet. Yes, the internet withdrawals have been severe. Right now, I’m in the dreariest rec hall known to man, sucking down WiFi and hoping the battery on my EeePC doesn’t die before I get this entry completed.
I’ve had quite a few nifty adventures along the way this week, however, that have made the lack of internet worth it. On Monday, I took a day trip into NYC and went to “The Colbert Report”, along with the hubby and my minions, MsInterpreted and Kinaesthesia. A grand time was had by all. Everything you’ve heard about Mark Malkoff is wrong – he’s way, way better. I’m sorry I missed getting to actually shake your hand, JenTaps, but the sea of people was too daunting to cross. Plus I was a bit of a nervous wreck. (You can read more of JenTaps’s adventure here.) It was nice knowing there was a familiar face (name?) with us, though. And, I have to admit, it was very cool to hear Mark mention No Fact Zone in the holding room and hearing so many people say they’ve heard of us. That was probably one of the neatest moments of the whole day.
Virtually all of our experience was identical to most of yours – we waited in line, we sat in the holding pen, we got to sit down (with excellent seats – thanks Mark!), watched Pete Dominick, and watched the show. The rest of our experiences were very personal, and I hope you all will forgive us in keeping them just for us. I think we’ve earned it.
I also got to go to “The Daily Show” on Wednesday. That was so much fun! The pre-show warmup by Jon was a complete hoot. Jon did a bit of his stand up, and then he opened the floor for questions. A woman sitting two seats down for us threw her hand up, and Jon called on her. She said that she had been to TCR about a year ago for her husband’s birthday, and she had tried to get something autographed but was shut down by security. She then pulled out a picture, which Jon took. She asked if Jon could get Stephen to sign the picture for her. Jon said, “Do you have anything for me to sign?” and when she said “No”, he dropped his mic and walked off stage. It was adorable. At the end of the taping, Jon said “Thank you all for coming, if there’s any of you who would like me to get Stephen to sign something for you, just let me know.”
After TDS, we went to a live jazz show with Zoner somuch2kno, and a swank party at a NYC apartment. Very, very cool!
Unfortunately, I woke up on Thursday morning with a hella cold. Not sure what’s going on there, but I’m working my Neti pot and Vitamin C pills pretty hard to get this cold/sinus thing to shake. We’ve got one more night here in the Poconos, and we fly back to Dallas tomorrow. Good times! Hopefully I can play catch up on any news I might have missed while stuck in this relaxing, yet annoyingly internet-free, cabin. Okay, enough babbling, let me get this finished so I can get back to the relaxation.
Here’s my question to get you guys talking this week:
If you have been to a live taping of ‘The Colbert Report’, what was the question you asked Stephen Colbert, and what was his answer?
My question to Stephen was, “When is ‘The Colbert Report’ going to start broadcasting in High Definition?” He thought about it for a second and then said, “I’ve got to get some work done first, honey.” (Let’s all say a prayer to the plastic surgery gods that he doesn’t screw his face up like Conan did. God, I can barely look at Conan now, he looks so stretched and funky. But I digress).
Let’s hear what he had to say to YOU!
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59 Comments
October 24th, 2008 at 4:13 pm
“The rest of our experiences were very personal, and I hope you all will forgive us in keeping them just for us.”
Aw, DB. When I read “Poconos Edition,” I thought you would spill the beans. Maybe MsI or Kinaethesia will eventually break down and share something? Personally, I would just be dying to share my experience with everyone, but you’ve given us so much and I respect you. OK. Sigh….
Note: This will drive me crazy for the rest of my life. Haha.
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October 24th, 2008 at 4:18 pm
How wonderful DB, MsI, and Kinaesthesia! I truly couldn’t be happier for all of you! You guys work so hard to make this such a great site and I’m so glad you got to a taping and got to meet everyone. I have such a huge smile on my face right now! :-)
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October 24th, 2008 at 4:26 pm
“Can you get Stephen to sign something for me.”<–hilarious!
So pleased for you all, of course you have earned it!
Take zinc, but not at the same time as the Vitamin C, they cancel each other out.
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October 24th, 2008 at 4:28 pm
Oh, and Stephen had better NOT get any work done! D: His face is perfection!
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October 24th, 2008 at 4:36 pm
Ha ha! I didn’t even read all the way to the end of the post. I agree, he doesn’t need to have any work done at all!
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October 24th, 2008 at 5:19 pm
If it ain’t broke, don’t fix it!
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October 24th, 2008 at 4:41 pm
you know, i always wondered about the High Definition thing. it would seem to make sense given their unbelievable ratings for a cable show. it always makes me nervous when i think of getting a new HDTV and seeing the quality of TDS/TCR look worse.
good question, DB!
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October 24th, 2008 at 5:48 pm
Here’s a shoutout to DB – Hey! (Picture Stephen graphic here). Thanks for linking to my taping write-up. I figured it would just scroll away, but I wanted to write it up before I forgot all the goodness.
I didn’t know it was you that asked the high-def question. How great! It was great to almost meet you, Kinaesthesia, Ms. I and your husband.
Thanks for all you do for us on your great site. I hope you had the best time ever. And, you’re right, Mark is very nice.
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October 24th, 2008 at 7:48 pm
Loved your taping report, jentaps! How cool that you got to teach Stephen a tap dance move!
I haven’t been to a taping yet but I’m hoping to make it to one when I got to NYC in January. I don’t know if I’ll ask a question though. I’m a bit shy.
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October 24th, 2008 at 5:52 pm
Good to hear that you had a fun time in NYC and that the TCR people made it special for you.
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October 24th, 2008 at 6:27 pm
oh for sure you’ve earned it, you don’t even have to think about it!
I didn’t get to ask a question. I had two in mind– both are curiosity questions, but not prying. one was a little more obscure than the other though. didn’t matter, cuz I was slow raising my hand and I’m kinda shy…
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October 24th, 2008 at 6:45 pm
You certainly all deserved whatever wonderful experience you were given by Stephen and everyone at TCR. Especially since this special site is a labor of love. I’m so happy for all y’all! (Sorry, ever since Jon said “all y’all” I’ve been brought back to my days in Williamsburg, VA)
I’ve never been to a taping, but I’m not sure I could ever ask a question. I’m afraid in Stephen’s presence I would turn bright red and only manage something unintelligible :)
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October 24th, 2008 at 7:08 pm
WHAT???? Conan has NEVER gotten any work done! What the hell are you talking about? I’m really confused on what made you think that.
p.s. I could look at Conan’s face all day!!!
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October 24th, 2008 at 7:33 pm
Jon said, “Do you have anything for me to sign?” and when she said “No”, he dropped his mic and walked off stage.
Haha, aww, no love for Jon? I’ve never been to a taping it’s the only thing I find unfortunate about living in California. But even if I did I don’t think I’d have the courage to raise my hand for a question. :(
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October 24th, 2008 at 8:27 pm
I wasn’t able to catch Thursday’s TCR because of satellite rainout. Does anyone when if/when the Thurs ep will be replayed this weekend or on Monday? (I have dial-up and can’t make the CC vids work on my computer.)
Thanks!
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October 25th, 2008 at 1:14 am
Comedy Central now replays all of them on Sunday mornings 8-10am. You can catch up on the whole week!
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October 25th, 2008 at 3:16 am
Woah. Sweet!
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October 25th, 2008 at 3:24 am
Thanks very much! I can watch Colbert and then the Sunday morning talk shows.
reCAPTCHA: Grace embodying
Well that’s very nice. I may be a Tuesday’s Child, but physical grace has never been my strong suit. ;D
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October 24th, 2008 at 8:45 pm
awww!! You can keep your stories DB, I understand. = ) no worries. I’m still just so excited for you and MsI and Kinaethesia and whatever experience you received! You put a LOT of effort into something that I love, that connects so many people and does so much for the show…you deserve all of your experience, and more.
*beaming*
I’m giddy and giggling for you. except for the cold thing. that’s never fun! = (
and onto the topic itself…here is from my taping report 9/4/08:
…”
Finally, it was time and we all got to our feet and screamed and cheered and clapped and sang along to “I Want You To Want Me” and Stephen came running out, high-fiving everyone I believe twice. Then he stood in front of the interview section of the audience and started the “does anyone have any questions to humanize me before I say these terrible things?” before he had finished asking if we had questions, I raised my hand. A few more hands went up, but he came back to me first.
“Yes?”
I stood up, like I knew I should. And I need to mention because I didn’t before, I was wearing a shirt from the HRC Nashville that reads “I Want You To Want Me” because I thought of how fun would that be?! I knew that they played the song, and I knew that was a big basis for his character but somehow, I didn’t remember that they played that when he ran out, or at that exact moment, that that was the first thing they decided about his character. Of course, at that moment I couldn’t have told you my name…moving on…
So, I stood up and he says something similar to “Aw, she stood up. So polite. She was raised right.”
Then he read my shirt as I was busy turning colors and giggling to myself. And he says, “I want you to want me?! You know that story about the song and the show right?”
“No…”
“You DON’T know that story?!”
“No…You’ll just have to tell me then. But I still get my question!”
“But…I already have a story to share…”
“I get two…”
“Ok”
“Who is your favorite character in Atlas Shrugged?”
“Who was my favorite character in Atlas Shrugged? The End. Oh my God…The End. I loved when that character was introduced. I hated that book. My character loves it.”
“He would have to!”
“My problem with Ann Rand, or Ayn Rand *small eye roll* is that she believed that a burger flipper could run a multi national corporation. Remember when Dagny, that was her name, right? Dagny? Yeah, you remember when she was in the restaurant with the guy that was flipping burgers?”
And of course I don’t remember the rest of the detailed quotes from our conversation, but we talked a little bit about Dagny and who she was, and a little about the philosophy of Ayn Rand, and that he didn’t care for the book but then he finally settled on his favorite character being John Galt. Then he asked me my favorite character – Francisco – and paused a moment and smiled and said that we just alienated a lot of people so, we should probably move on, or something…so, then he went into the story about I Want You To Want Me.
I later had the opportunity to ask him who he would play in a movie version of the book and he said, “Dagny” and just the way he said it made me giggle uncontrollably.
Stephen and the other creators of the show had all decided that his character would be singing I Want You To Want Me live from Budokan into the mirror, while pointing at himself. Every day before the show he would sing this song as a confidence booster because that’s the type of guy that he is – he wants everyone to like him. I’m sure we’ve all heard the story before…I know I had read it at least a few dozen places, but still, it was cool to hear it from him. I got my conversational Q & A AND a story! I finally sat down and continued beaming until about the time I got home earlier today… ”
phew. thank god i didnt have to retype all of that!
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October 24th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
this is great! i love that you wore that shirt to the taping. very appropriate :-)
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October 24th, 2008 at 11:52 pm
YES. STANDING UP. I did that when I asked my question and he looked so thrilled (“Look at that! So polite!”). It made me super-happy.
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October 25th, 2008 at 3:20 am
Geez. I’ll be sure to stand up next time like a traditional South Carolinian. Pardon my manners Stephen! You deserve the best!
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October 24th, 2008 at 9:56 pm
I asked him a question at a taping 1 year ago, something about Bill O’Rielly but I’ve forgotten …
BUT i went to a taping on 9/15/08. I was wearing a t-shirt that says “Stephen can Better Know me Anytime!”.
So during Q&A time I stood up and said
“Hi Stephen – my name is Anna. Just wanted you to better know me before I ask you a question..”
Stephen said “Nice shirt! Gotta say I like the word placement…” (the writing was definitely over my boobs and stood out i guess and everyone had a good laugh)
Then serious question. I said “I saw you did Race for the Cure in Central Park this weekend with your family (*i only knew that because it was posted on THIS amazing website*) and I just wanted to know besides that and your wriststrong charity – what is one charity that you think is under-publicized/appreciated that you think more people should take notice of?”
Without hesitation Stephen said “Donorschoose.org” and want into how he feels about the importance of education. I told him “Thanks – and I love that you said that because I’m a teacher. I agree!”
It was great. It made me love Stephen even more, as if that is possible …
To DB and MsInterpreted and Kinaethesia – I just wanted to say I am so glad you got a personal Colbert Report experience … I cannot say enough how much I love/appreciate what you do with this website and of all Stephen Colbert fans you three definitely deserve your special time with him. Congrats!
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October 25th, 2008 at 3:22 am
Excellent question AnnaT! Did he look surprised/impressed that you knew about his involvement with Race for the Cure? As you said, only thanks to this incredible site do we know of such great tidbits!
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October 24th, 2008 at 10:53 pm
I’ve been to tapings several times, and asked questions twice.
The first:
Me: *raises hand*
Stephen: “Yes”
Me: “Hi!”
Stephen: “Hello!”
Me: “If you could..”
Stephen: *says something*
Me: “What?”
Stephen: *makes fun of me* “WHAT?!”
Me: “*makes fun of myself and him* WHAT!!??!”
Stephen: “Having a good time, I see…” *grins*
Me: “Yes!…If you could be transported into any movie, which one would it be and why?”
Stephen: “Lord of the Rings, because I am a freak about it!!!! *huge grin* Did you see Viggo on the show the other…” *falls back, tilts head back…and honestly, gets this amazing look on his face*
Me: “Yeeesssssss”
My friend: “I knew it!”
Stephen: “She knew!”
My friend: “Yes!”
Stephen: “She knows me.”
My friend: “I do.”
The second was at the screening for the Christmas Special (and to me, a musical theatre lover , was the most spectacular thing in the world):
Me: *raises hand*
Stephen: “Yes, this young lady.”
Me: “Do you have a favorite musical and, if so, what is it?”
Stephen: “It has to be ‘Sunday in the Park with George.’” (Note: He gets so many points for loving Sondheim)
Me: “Nice choice!!!”
THEN HE PROCEEDS TO BREAK OUT INTO “FINISHING THE HAT” FOR A FEW MINUTES. Singing right to me.
Then…
Stephen: “I could sing that forever. But my second favorite is…”
Then he breaks out into a lengthy part of a song from Jesus Christ Superstar (I don’t know the name, whatever Webber) and again acted the whole thing out while staring at me. It was the hottest thing I’ve ever seen. Each time, once you thought he was done performing, he kept going.
And he was in his normal attire, donning a baseball hat.
+++
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October 25th, 2008 at 4:35 am
Oh God, Sunday in the Park with George? I could die XD
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October 25th, 2008 at 9:04 am
That just made me so happy to know that Stephen loves Sunday in the Park with George (It makes sense that Sondheim is a favorite of his). The best part is that Stephen doesn’t just answer questions, he actually provides support with that encyclopedic knowledge of his. And if that involves him breaking out into song – all the better :)
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October 25th, 2008 at 9:32 am
I was there at that Christmas special screening! It was the first one, right? I thought that was amazing … I mean, he really sang for a few minutes. I love Stephen! That was a great question
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October 25th, 2008 at 1:10 pm
“I Don’t Know How to Love Him,” maybe, from Jesus Christ Superstar? (that’s the only one I can think of)
Great stories, all!
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October 26th, 2008 at 2:35 pm
yesss! I knew he must have been a fellow Sondheim lover.
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October 25th, 2008 at 2:25 am
That’s cute about Jon and dropping the mic. Poor Jon gets no love.
I’ve asked both Jon and Stephen a question at a taping.
To Jon I asked him if he’d rather be Amish or a Scientologists.
He thought that was random, laughed, and said scientology because being Amish and having a television show would be like being Jewish and owning a bacon shop. He then invited us all over to his bacon shop because apparently they have great bacon. Ultimately he went with being Amish though.
To Stephen I asked if he would ever go on The Office.
His response was that he would love to; someone just had to talk to that b****** Steve Carell for him.
(And to be fair; I did that too.)
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October 25th, 2008 at 4:50 am
I have a counter-query for anyone who doesn’t have the ability/opportunity to attend a live taping:
What question would you ask Stephen if you could?
(I’m planning to go to one soon, but I’m not sure what I should ask. I want to ask something funny or interesting that hasn’t already been done.)
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October 25th, 2008 at 9:19 am
a little off topic but it’s about questions:
at the beginning of TDS on Thursday wasn’t there some random banter about a hypothetical…I thought it must have come from a question someone asked him??
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October 25th, 2008 at 2:43 pm
I just had to comment because the recaptcha
is “Stephen Jr”.
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October 25th, 2008 at 8:19 pm
Are you kidding? That was your reCAPTCHA?
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October 26th, 2008 at 1:12 am
That is a SERIOUSLY odd coincidence!
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October 26th, 2008 at 2:02 am
OK. Someone is definitely tweaking these recaptchas. That’s no coincidence.
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October 26th, 2008 at 9:25 am
I KNOW!!! I was surprised, too.
But I swear it was “Stephen Jr.”
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October 26th, 2008 at 1:29 pm
hahah, that’s awesome!
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October 25th, 2008 at 4:49 pm
Because I can’t share this story too many times…
Q: During the Philadelphia primary, you began singing “L-O-V-E” to Michelle Obama, but you were rudely interrupted and I wondered if you could finish the song for us tonight.
A: “L…is for the way you look tonight…” Stephen sang the entire song and looked straight at me for the first few bars before surprising the woman in front of me by suddenly putting his face right in front of hers. This must have been really something for her as she was the one person in the audience who had never even seen the show before! He then ended the song by bending backwards with arms outstretched and microphone in hand. Everyone clapped. Stephen Colbert sang a love song to me. I heard Stephen sing in person. Words cannot express….
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October 26th, 2008 at 2:33 pm
oh man. I’m still in love with that story. :)
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October 27th, 2008 at 2:13 am
Awww. Thanks Tonks:) As I recall, you met the man…and for good reason;)
recatpcha: in genius
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October 27th, 2008 at 4:29 pm
hahah, yess. :D
recapcha: style farmer.
October 25th, 2008 at 8:07 pm
Jon, I started to ask a question about responsibility and the fact that so many teachers use clips of their show to teach – do they feel a greater sense of responsibility as they have gotten more popular, etc. But he kept sidetracking and asking me questions – teachers use clips from the show? What schools? What classes? I teach? What do I teach? Bioethics? AWESOME – what about stem cells? …we talked for a good 10 minutes, much to the irritation of the producer, who Jon kept blowing off.
He eventually let me answer my question, paused a moment, then jumped up on his desk, curled into a fetal position, and started sobbing “NO!”
Two questions later, someone asked him an in depth question about sociology and politics. He looked at that guy, looked at me, and said “what the hell, is the Harvard Debate Team here tonight?”
Some year, I will have my very own “The Daily Show – Harvard Debate Team” tshirt made.
Stephen, I asked him about his cufflinks. I could tell that he had at least two pairs (at the time), the classic C and then another. He was pretty thrilled to be asked, and went to show me up close til he realized he wasn’t wearing cufflinks that night. The other pair were custom made for him by a brother, and a gift on opening night. They’re the family crest.
That was the show he kept cracking up at our behaviour in the front row, wondered what the hell we’d eaten, and generally spent most of the time cackling at us. We spent the breaks dancing in our chairs, and towards the end he started mimicking us and dancing, too. Very sweet.
I saw the show again a few weeks later and didn’t ask anything, but was in the front row again and he whispered as he ran by working the crowd “huh, fast six months”, winked at me a little later, and during a break waived his cuffs at me – he wasn’t wearing cufflinks that night, either.
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October 26th, 2008 at 11:48 pm
OMG! What fun stories!!!!
Thank you SO much for sharing! That is awesome! = )
rofl@ “fast months”
how did you ever pull that off?!
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October 28th, 2008 at 12:07 am
*laugh*
Rather simple, actually – the first time I went, the tickets weren’t in my name. :-)
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October 26th, 2008 at 1:09 pm
it sounds like you’ve had so much fun! :) thanks for sharing your story with us.
when I asked Stephen a question, I asked him what his favorite character to play in Wigfield was, and he said Donnie Larson and started reciting some stuff from the book, in Donnie’s voice :) it was so awesome!
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October 26th, 2008 at 2:31 pm
When I went to a taping in June, I asked Stephen “Would your character be different if Kerry or Gore had become president?” and he said simply, “You bet.” that got a bit laugh from the audience. Every day I beat myself up for this. I had MEANT to say “What would the character be like if Kerry or Gore had become president?”
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October 26th, 2008 at 11:54 pm
haha. yeah. NEVER ask yes or no questions in these situations.
but you know, it’s an interesting question when asked to stewart, but towards colbert i think i know the answer.
the character would be a lot less “support our president,” just as the right-wing pundits he parodies were under Clinton. but that sense of victimized indignation stays more or less constant regardless of the administration (again, a reasonable conclusion from studying the pundits)
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October 27th, 2008 at 4:30 pm
yeah. I beat myself up everyday. I was so nervous, I messed up my wording. but after further thought, it was a silly question anyway. T__T
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October 26th, 2008 at 3:37 pm
Great question! FYI to all, we’ve added the new questions mentioned here to our ever-expanding “Audience-Questions Archive” at Colbert U — you can check it out here:
http://colbertuniversity.nofactzone.net/index.php?option=com_content&task=view&id=40&Itemid=80
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October 27th, 2008 at 4:38 pm
This is fabulous! My question is now on CU! Thank you so much wordswithgrace. I am in awe of your site on a daily basis. So thorough!
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October 28th, 2008 at 1:24 am
Thanks so much — we always love to hear that!!
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October 26th, 2008 at 5:12 pm
since it’s free-for-all, i had a random observation.
is it me, or was there no toss at all this week?
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October 26th, 2008 at 8:04 pm
I do not remember there being one…
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October 27th, 2008 at 4:39 pm
No tosses. I think they’ll make up for it on November 4th:)
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October 26th, 2008 at 7:00 pm
I went to a taping back in March and I have a cousin who’s a member of Congress so I asked Stephen how I can convince him to go on “Better Know a District.” Stephen asked me what district my cousin represented and what state he was from and I told him and he told me to call my cousin a coward if he wouldn’t come on his show. I have yet to try that!
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January 13th, 2009 at 11:31 am
[...] my audience question when I was in the ‘Colbert Report’ studio audience, I asked, “When will ‘The Colbert Report’ and ‘The Daily Show’ be [...]
January 13th, 2009 at 3:00 pm
When I went to TCR with my friend, we both got to ask questions which was excellent!
Me: I love Americone Dream and I was wondering if you got to help develop the flavor or was it a one-time deal?
Stephen: Oh, it was a one-time deal. They had already market tested the flavor, so it was take it or leave it. I do like the flavor myself, but I have to wonder if my character would actually *waffle* on anything…but we had control of what would go on the packaging.
And my friend got a good question in too.
Friend: Just wondering, on a scale of 1 to 10, how much of a douche bag is Bill O’Reilly?
Stephen: Do I have to stop at 10? No, I can’t do it. He *is* Papa Bear.
I loved my experiences at TCR. The staff are really great and always keep it fun for everyone.
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