Four Horsemen of the Apopcalypse – Pop culture references in The Colbert Report: June 22-25, 2009

Welcome to No Fact Zone’s weekly roundup of cultural references on The Colbert Report. From Darcy to Danger Mouse, String Theory to Shakespeare, we’ve got the keys to this week’s obscure, oddball, and occasionally obscene cultural shout-outs (hey!).

Hey Zoners!  Weren’t this week’s audiences crazy? So many great bits this week, but I think my favorite has to be Monday’s Zicam story.  Stephen talking about medical stuff is never not funny, and as an academic, I loved the part about Zicam’s developer and his “degrees” (especially the Beerniversity of Drinksachusetts, where I got my Ph.D. Really.)  With such creative material, what segments had you laughing hardest this week?  Post your favorite bits in the comments!! (* = TCR/TDS link)

Monday:  Zicam Recall

“If Zicam really worked, how come it wasn’t created by a schoolteacher? And why are there no cartoons on the box?”

Now dietary supplement Airborne is our standard of effectiveness for cold remedies?  We’re in real trouble.  In 2008, Airborne was accused of false advertising by the Federal Trade Commission, and settled for over $30 million.  BoingBoing has a humorous comparison of the pre- and post-settlement packaging.  It’s an interesting example of how effective marketing can turn snake oil into runaway profit, but *poor Stephen is worried they’re going to take away his magic amulet next.

“And of course, Dr. Cliff Huxtable’s favorite prescription: Zeezum-razzum-profen ^TM.”

Can’t get enough of Stephen’s Bill Cosby impressions, they crack me up every time.  Stephen broke into the Cosby Mumbles earlier this year (Apopcalypse, Monday 3/30: Space Module Colbert), and when  *practicing his commencement address on The Daily Show.  Wyatt Cenac does a pretty good Cosby, too, arguing that *Barack Obama is actually Cliff Huxtable.

Tuesday: Barack Obama’s Response to Iran & Governor Alert – The Search for Mark Sanford

“Yesterday, the Guardian Council of Iran acknowledged voting irregularities and threw out 3 million votes. Now to put that in perspective, that’s enough to put 9,615 Norm Colemans in the Senate.”

We featured the contested Minnesota US Senate race between Al Franken and Norm Coleman in a May Apopcalypse (Thursday 5/21: Intro).  It’s now almost 8 months after the election, and there’s still no resolution.  Senate terms are 6 years, though, so there’s no rush, really.  Perhaps Coleman can convince people to turn their Twitter icons beige?

“Of course, this isn’t just about a politician Henry David Thoreau-ing his career away.”

We already know Gov. Sanford enjoys his solitude, as did Henry David Thoreau. In 1854, Thoreau published Walden, an account of his two years spent living simply in a cabin he built in the woods near Walden Pond (outside Concord, Massachusetts).  The extraordinary work is at once nature journal, social examination, and philosophical treatise: “I went to the woods because I wished to live deliberately, to front only the essential facts of life, and see if I could not learn what it had to teach, and not, when I came to die, discover that I had not lived.”  I love this book like few others. (Thoreau’s complete works, including the great Civil Disobedience essay, can be found here.)

Wednesday:  Intro

“There’s a new album from the Jonas Brothers. Thank god they’re not abstaining from making awesome rock.”

Stephen’s got Jonas Brothers on the brain today.  Boy band sensation the Jonas Brothers (no, I will not link them) made news by sporting “purity rings” which mark their religious commitment to abstinence until marriage.  This was memorably & musically spoofed by the folks at South Park.  Oh, the Jonas Brothers… *They will be missed.

Thursday: Commonsense Health Care Reform Infomercial

“I have not seen a softball like that since 1988…”

In a famous moment during the 1988 US presidential debates between Democrat Michael Dukakis and Republican George H.W. Bush, moderator Bernard “I’m under the table” Shaw put a personal – and hypothetical – spin on the death penalty question.  Dukakis’ dispassionate, policy wonkish answer to the emotionally charged (and possibly unfair) question was believed to have contributed to his subsequent sharp drop in the polls, and his eventual loss to Bush, resulting in 4 fruitful years of Bush-Quayle humor.