Hurrah! I’ve been watching Neil’s blog all day to see when he would blog about his trip to The Report, and the wait is finally over. From Neil Gaiman’s Journal:
Monday, Colbert, and tabs galore
Wednesday, March 18, 2009
Posted by Neil at 3:16 PM. . .
I love The Colbert Report. It gets Tivoed in my house and it gets watched.
Originally, I didn’t. Caught the first few when it spun off from the Daily Show, and wasn’t impressed – didn’t like it, didn’t get it. It was the fact it became my son Mike’s favourite TV programme that drew me back. And when I came back, I loved it.
I found myself fascinated by the multiple layers of the Colbert persona (the character of Colbert is an idiot, but a really smart idiot, played by a very clever man) and the way that the persona is allowed to say the unsayable. (The “rearranging the deckchairs on the Hindenberg” line, for example.)
Had no idea whether I’d work on it, or enjoy it when I was actually on it, mind you.
I think I worked and I really did enjoy it — I loved having no idea where things were going to go (no, it was not rehearsed, no, I had no idea that mentioning Tom Bombadil would produce that result).
. . .
I had to smile at the thought of Neil mentioning his Art Spiegelman recommendation when the two had dinner later (read the rest of Neil’s post!). That said, I think my favorite bit about Neil’s interview was the Lord of the Rings silliness. Neil mentioned it a couple of times on Twitter, too:
The most FA’d Q about last night on Colbert is was anything scripted or rehearsed? Nope. The conversation went there and he Bombadilloed.
And cut from the interview is our favourite LOTR characters. Mine Gandalf. His, Faramir.
I’m honestly not sure who my favorite character was — it depends on my mood — but Faramir, Gandalf and probably Éomer and Galadriel would all be contenders (I loved that a Westron could be as “kingly” as Éomer was and Galadriel had a strangely morally ambiguous history that I found intriguing). Anyhow, it’s always fun for me to watch the “grown-ups” geek out.
Watch it again below:
Re-live some other Klassic Kolbert Lord of the Rings geekery here
My favorite – Eowyn. I wish they hadn’t cut that part out!
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That’s interesting, at the live Q&A at the Report Colbert said he fave LOTR character was Samwise, maybe it’s a movable feast.
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Could also be possible that Stephen was answering in character. I admit, though, that I’ve never read the books (and don’t remember a whole lot from the movies) so I don’t know if Faramir would hold a particular appeal to “Stephen” as opposed to Stephen.
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i know this is a question that stephen has been asked before taping numerous times, and as far as i have heard he always answers faramir. i only remember because he has always been my favorite chivalrous character in all of literature, and i always geek out when stephen mentions it.
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Any Meriadoc Brandybuck fans? C’mon, the Master of Buckland. You know Brandy Hall was the place to be. Parties every night! Merry’s my fav. :D
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Yes, I bet Brandy Hall saw some fantastic parties! But for complexity of character, and for the embodiment a man making hard choices without hope or expectation of reward, for his love of wisdom, and his integrity, Faramir wins out. Aragorn has all those traits, but he’s Numenorean, raised by elves, so you can’t identify in the same way. Faramir is just a man, and a great one.
“I do not love the bright sword for its sharpness, nor the arrow for its swiftness, nor the warrior for his glory. I love only that which they defend.” (Faramir)
I’m with Stephen, and like him I was fuming mad about how the character of Faramir was distorted in the films (which I otherwise love love love).
Ok, sorry to geek out on you all there. Back to your regularly scheduled Colbertica.
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Ah, but technically — technically — Faramir has Númenórean blood, too. I mean, he’s one of Húrin’s descendants. Not to take anything away from the admiration of Faramir; he is, after all, one of my favorite characters, too.
But that’s one of the reasons I liked Éomer’s character (in the book, not so much in the movie); Aragorn treats him as an equal and points out the diminishing gap between Westron and Númenórean men.
Yep, I am also infected by this nerd virus with which you are clearly familiar. [sheepish grin]
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Tee hee! MsI, I send you nerdy kisses. We are clearly of the same blood. I think we should have a secret handshake or something.
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He’s the topic of the artical, but nobody’s even mentioned him, or his mysterious nature. Tom Bombadil is my favorite, with Sauraman as the second. The dialogue for Sauraman is just to perfect.
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