Jan
14
Episode 5006 – R.A.P.S. (Awesome!)
By
My cable was very spotty this evening and I missed a lot of the show. Our wonderful Webmaster, DB, was gracious enough to help me with the poll answers and quotes from this episode. Thank you, DB!
Here are a few notable moments:
- My daughter stopped asking for a pony and is now willing to settle for a bottle of glue.
- STAY OUT OF MY F@#KING TRASH CANS! I AM NOT RUNNING A G*D D*MNED SQUIRREL HOTEL!!!
- What are they doing mating their dogs with sheep? It’s unnatural.
- I’ll bite – What is money?
- Invisible money? How do you know if someone steals it?
- Are you at a gay porn shop? What shop are you in?
- Could I be money? Am I money?
Please feel free to leave a comment or add a write-in vote for something not included in the poll.
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31 Comments
January 14th, 2009 at 12:30 am
I can’t be the only person who thought of that Exit 57 skit when Stephen pulled out the stuffed squirrel!
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:47 am
No you are not. The first thing that I thought was “down in the basement”. I wonder if he borrowed that squirrel from Amy.
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:51 pm
Haha, no, you were definitely not the only one!
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January 14th, 2009 at 12:56 pm
oh yeah! thats the first thing i thought! i think its the same stuffed squirel!
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January 14th, 2009 at 1:26 am
I love it when Stephen pulls out the stuffed squirrel! I missed that part of the show tonight but I’m planning to watch the episode online before work tomorrow. I’ll catch it then.
The “house divided” quote that I used as the poll title reminds me of my childhood. When I was growing up, my father shared famous quotes with us on a daily basis. His favorites were lines from famous speeches, historical documents, American literature, and classic movies…
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January 14th, 2009 at 3:40 am
Your dad sounds like a pretty cool guy.
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January 14th, 2009 at 7:47 am
Thanks! He’s a good dad. I wish he was more of an it-getter though. :-)
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January 14th, 2009 at 2:24 am
Stephen yelling at squirrels reminded me of my little sister’s complaint, “Everything needs space and the squirrels take up everybody’s space!”
Our outdoor cats were kind enough to leave a present of a squirrel tail on the doorstep the other day.
The contradictory British laws on humane trapping and inhumane kill is funny if you overlook the grisliness of it. Brits eating squirrel? What’s next, a London craze for burgoo?
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January 14th, 2009 at 2:31 am
Microfish!
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January 14th, 2009 at 3:51 am
And he’s carrying them where the sun don’t shine–which means he’s probably working as a spy… lol
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January 14th, 2009 at 1:36 pm
I did laugh when he said microfish… I thought surely Stephen knows that’s not how you pronounce that!
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January 14th, 2009 at 10:00 pm
The “microfish” and the little character break there made me laugh really hard. That and the stuffed squirrel were definite highlights.
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January 14th, 2009 at 4:56 am
I was so excited to hear Mr. Ferguson get the verse right; that the LOVE of money is a root of all kinds of evil; Stephen, knowing exactly what he was doing, set him up perfectly, and thankfully Niall Ferguson did correct him. Then Stephen reestablished himself as the Scripture-master immediately thereafter, but I was glad to see somebody finally get it right for once!
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January 14th, 2009 at 2:16 pm
I loved it when Niall Ferguson corrected him on that quote — that is one of my pet peeves, that is constantly misquoted.
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January 14th, 2009 at 7:54 am
I’m nitpicking, but tonight both TDS and TCR have guests from the UK! :)
That darling Colbert Kid is freakin’ adorable! :)
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January 14th, 2009 at 1:54 pm
I hope his parents were watching. So cute.
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:16 am
I was at the taping last night, so I’ll share a few, quick thoughts.
Before the toss when Jon and Stephen were talking, there was initially no audio so Stephen was pretending to be a mime – priceless. Once there was sound, Stephen asked Jon if he had seen the webiste http://www.thankyoujonstewart.com, which supports Jon’s criticizing of Israel last week on TDS. Jon said that he hadn’t seen it yet, but he has seen jonstewartisaf*%king@$$hole.com, so Stephen quickly retorted, “Oh, you’ve seen my work!”
since we had been in the waiting room for a while, Mark apologized and said we were all getting WristSTRONG bracelets, which was cool. I already had one flung by Stephen, but it’s nice to have another.
The taping went well – there was only one flub, and when he was starting over, he said, “You know what makes comedy better? Knowing what’s coming next.” His microfish/microfiche break had us all dying, and it was cool to see the On Notice board. I also thought the Putin impression was particularly hilarious, and the squirrels thing was perfectly absurd.
I’d say it was a great way to make up for Monday’s episode – he must have sprayed a lot of Axe before the show.
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January 14th, 2009 at 10:47 am
Thanks for the scoop, Val! I love hearing interesting behind-the-scenes stories from people lucky enough to be at a live show.
Your story brougth to mind something that I think about from time to time. It always amazes me how Internet aware that Stephen is, and how internet (and fan) averse Jon is. Jon seems like he tolerates his fans at best, and has major disdain for them at his worst.
Jon’s complete dismissal of bloggers with Arianna Huffington a couple of weeks ago really drove it home how little regard Jon has for fans like me that express their fandom and appreciation of celebrities through web sites. And Jon’s dismissal of this new fan site is just another small piece of evidence that Jon’s relationship with his fan base is drastically different than Stephen’s.
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January 14th, 2009 at 11:36 am
You know, DB – I have to agree, but I think it’s the nature of the shows. Jon doesn’t need audience interaction the way Stephen does. Jon uses his show as a way to vent about the politics of the day, and Stephen feeds off his audience to take his show to new places. I am pretty certain that if Jon tried something like a Green Screen challenge, he would not have anywhere near the response that Stephen gets, but that is also not something that would fit into the style of TDS.
Both shows are so unique in their own way, and having seen both live, the difference is apparent. When Stephen comes out to greet the audience, the reaction is a lot stronger than what you see at TDS. I don’t necessarily think that Jon has a disdain for his fans, but he is not as reliant on them for his show. I wasn’t sure how the Q&A session at TDS would go, but Jon seemed more than gracious to take a lot of questions, and answered them all in a sincere, albeit sometimes sarcastic fashion depending on the nature of the question. Even the studios add to this idea, Jon is much more distant from the audience, whereas Colbert’s studio is quite cozy. After the taping last night when Stephen went and shook hands with some of the audience, he even went and sat in one guy’s lap – I don’t think we would see Jon do this.
I think that Stephen takes a much more open approach to his comedy, seeing that he has almost no limits when it comes to getting a laugh. When I saw Jon with his “hair braid” after the break, it was kind of surprising to see that because it was sort of out of the ordinary. It probably stems from their backgrounds though – Jon is a stand-up, and Stephen is an improviser. Stand-up is a one man job, but you need other people’s reactions to improvise, so they probably feed off those originally tendencies. I think that it’s the different approaches to their comedy that create the difference that we sense between the two.
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January 14th, 2009 at 11:45 am
Jon’s standup vs. Stephen’s improv
explains much about their approaches and makes a lot of sense. Great post, thanks.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:59 pm
Nice post, Val. I think you’ve really hit on how the differences in their comedic training play out in the shows. I also remember Jon saying something once about how he’s really just focused on the stories and the writing, and performance is the last thing on his mind, whereas Stephen’s in character for the entire show, so performance is a much bigger component.
I think they both respect and appreciate their audiences, but (for reasons of training, personality, and show format) Stephen’s got a closer connection with his.
January 14th, 2009 at 9:46 am
Both the guests this week have been amazing. I really loved how this Harvard professor really broke it down for Stephen, while at the same time keeping the subject entertaining and not dumbed-down.
And I loved the whole squirrel segment. The line about the squirrel hotel had me laughing really hard. Hopefully with all of those blank spaces, Stephen will bring out the On Notice board a little more frequently.
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January 14th, 2009 at 10:04 am
I really enjoyed last night’s episode – Professor Ferguson gave one of the better explanations of money I’ve ever heard.
However, I’m now starting to wonder what’s with Stephen and Squirrels? They show up in Exit 57, Strangers with Candy, Wigfield, and now TCR (at least). The squirrel references always seemed somewhat random, so I’ve always wondered if it was an old inside joke.
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January 14th, 2009 at 11:02 am
I’m all about the On Notice Board — it’s one of favorite reoccurring segment and I echo DB’s sentiments on hopefully being able to see more of it in the near future. The Niall Ferguson interview was fantastic and I just love it when Stephen debates scripture with guests…makes me want to watch the Philip Zimbardo interview again.
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January 14th, 2009 at 2:13 pm
ReCaptcha. “Ralph called”
I just had to tell us. Who is Ralph. Anyway, he called.
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January 14th, 2009 at 6:05 pm
I think that was a very good interview – not in the sense that it was extraordinary but in that it was a good example of how a guest should behave. Niall Ferguson seemed to really have understood the pre-taping advice to treat Stephen’s character like an idiot and carried it out well – he got his point across very clearly, all the while appearing relaxed and humorous.
Meanwhile, OMG SQUIRRELZ SO AWESOME!!
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January 14th, 2009 at 7:54 pm
I just had to clean up around my recycle bins thanks to some pesky squirrels! Of course I borrowed Stephen’s lines and recited them with the same frustration and anger!
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:02 pm
I also noticed the Amy Winehouse jokes in both shows, but I think it’s the first time Stephen joked about her in the squirrel aegment.
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:08 pm
Ack! Segment, I mean. :s
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January 14th, 2009 at 8:37 pm
There were a fantastic amount of British references in this episode, made me feel special =D Oh and I don’t eat squirrels by the way….honestly!
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January 18th, 2009 at 9:58 pm
I loved the microfish/microfiche problem! I had already decided to suggest he was smuggling goldfish before Stephen acknowledged the mispronunciation. hilarious! also harkens back to Stephen’s assessment of Spy Museum with Peter Earnest where he concludes that there is way too much action in that part of the body for him.
my vote had to go for the Niall Ferguson interview though. that was an excellent explanation. it was nothing one wouldn’t learn in an introductory course in macroeconomics (or through a little observation of the world) but it’s great to hear basic facts about money spoken on television. I’m so glad that Stephen allowed him enough time to speak. Bible verses and suggested relations with President Washington sealed the deal.
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