Greetings, Zoners! We’ve just about made it through another Report-less week. New show tomorrow night, and then we’ll have the answer to the all-important question: how much did Stephen’s hair grow during the break? It’s been relatively quiet on the Colbert news front, as it often is when the show isn’t taping. But there were enough nuggets of goodness out there to compile them all for you, so here’s your zeitgeist for June 12th.
With the release of Brüno this weekend, several articles have compared Sacha Baron Cohen to Stephen Colbert, noting the similarity in their methods and their approach to comedy. I’m not a fan of Baron Cohen myself — he’s made me cringe far more often then he’s made me laugh — but I can see the similarity. The big difference, as one of these articles points out, is that Stephen always makes sure his “victims” are in on the joke, and somehow that makes it funnier, at least from my perspective. I don’t see that as “playing it safe”; I think his interviews and field segments work better with “it-getters” who know what he’s up to and can roll with it.
- Baron Cohen fools all the people all the time – MSNBC: “That brand of comedy relies on a potent form of chutzpah. Few rewards in life come without risk, and that is especially true in the fine art of cracking people up… Stephen Colbert, who performed a similar function as a correspondent (although without the wacky foreign characterization) on ‘The Daily Show’ before getting his own show…said ‘I have a lot of respect’ for Baron Cohen and explained that a comic has to do what excites him in the pursuit of laughs.
“‘If it makes you laugh,’ Colbert said, ‘it’s valuable as comedy. You have to do things that strike at your passion. Taking risks sometimes energizes you and keeps you going. You have to respond to the world’s response to you. Then you get into a relationship with the audience.’”
- Brüno‘s Sacha Baron Cohen: More Than a Comedian – Time magazine: “It goes without saying that Stephen Colbert owes Baron Cohen a debt too large to repay, but by comparison, Colbert plays it safe. His guests always know that Colbert’s right-wing blowhard character is a put-on and they happily play along. When Bruno tries to start a cuddle party with Texas Representative Ron Paul… the flustered former presidential candidate is definitely not in on the joke.”
More on the “chimp-xclusive”–
- CNN’s John Zarella on Landing the Bubbles Scoop and His Love of Freaky Florida Stories – The New York Observer: John Zarrella talks about his “chimp-xclusive” for AC 360 and Stephen’s reaction to the piece on TCR.
“That night, Mr. Zarrella’s piece ricocheted around the Web. Bloggers went apesh*t. (Haha – Ed.)… The next night, Comedy Central’s Stephen Colbert paid homage… All of which Mr. Zarrella watched with amusement. When The Observer caught up with him a few days later, the veteran newsman stood behind his story. ‘It was absolutely the right thing to do,’ said Mr. Zarrella.
“‘Somebody said to me, ‘When your story ends up being mocked on The Colbert Report, that ought to tell you something,’ he added. ‘I said to him, ‘Well, I’m not sure what that says about my career. But it ranks up there as one of the most fun stories I’ve ever done.’”
“What’s that, Sweetness?”
- Seven greatest hand cannons in TV history – TV Squad: Coming in at #5 is Stephen’s very special .38 Special, Sweetness
“Some gun lovers pick their favorite side arm. For others, their side arm picks them. Colbert’s ‘Sweetness’ has never left the side of his arm since he started the show and ‘Sweetness’ has never let him down. She has a special kinship with Stephen in the same way a young boy has an imaginary friend who tells him to kill people in their sleep. Stephen would probably marry Sweetness if the Bible allowed it. (What, no mention of the fact that Stephen can hear Sweetness whispering to him in his non-functioning ear? That seems like a pretty special talent to me…)
Vote Colbert!
- The Tubey Awards – Television Without Pity: Poll #6 is for the Best Late Night Talk Show; The Colbert Report is nominated, along with The Daily Show, The Late, Late Show with Craig Ferguson, The Late Show with David Letterman, Late Night with Conan O’Brien, and a few others that I’ve never watched. I’m not sure how much longer that poll is up, so head on over there now and vote for TCR!
Monsters vs. Aliens on DVD
- Paramount Announces Monsters vs. Aliens for DVD and BD – The DVD Lounge: DreamWorks Animation has announced that Monsters vs. Aliens will be released on both DVD and Blu-ray on September 29, 2009.
Six Degrees: Neil deGrasse Tyson
- New Science Oriented Radio Show Aims at Working-class Audience – PoliticalAffairs.net: “Are you a Discovery channel junky? If so, a new radio show hosted by renowned astrophysicist Dr. Neil deGrasse Tyson will hit the spot. Tyson has teamed up with Comedy Central’s Lynn Koplitz for a new science-based radio talk show called Star Talk.
“During a recent telephone interview, Tyson said the show blends comedy, talk and great interviews with all kinds of people, from scientists and artists to TV celebrities like Stephen Colbert and Bill Nye. ‘The goal is to convince people that science is all around us,’ Tyson said. ‘Science doesn’t have to be as though you’re taking medicine; you can have fun with it.’
And finally–
- Patri-idiotic – Cute Overload: Just in case you were wondering what happened to Stephen’s hair once General Odierno separated it from his head… Have a look at this. And read the comments. And check out the hovertext on the picture.
(h/t DB, Ms I, Jennie, Charlotte, and Monica)
Heehee! I love the mention of Sweetness! And I agree, they should have said something about him listening to her with his deaf ear – that cracks me up!
As for the eagle toupee – that’s hilarious! I sure hope Stephen gets wind of that, he should totally feature it on the show. :P
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Sasha Baron Cohen is different. A lot of his stuff isn’t so much as funny as in laughs, its more funny how ignorant some people can be. Go back to the days on the Ali G show and the “Throw the Jew Down the Well” song, that the folks in the bar went along with.
What he shows is that while we aren’t necessarily evil, its that our apathy can lead to evil things being allowed to take place–which I find as a rather worthy social experiment that he has been doing.
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SBC is HORRIBLY rude, but I find him often hilarious and thrillingly subversive in a balls to the wall, take no prisoner way.
This podcast on pbs’s Studio 360 “Andy Kaufman comes of age” discusses both Borat and Colbert and their Kaufmanesque influences
http://www.studio360.org/episodes/2009/07/10
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thanks for that clip, very interesting!
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Hahaha!
The eagle toupee is the greatest toupee I’ve ever seen. That’s actually not saying much, but I do like it. Great find!
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Also, you should remember that when Colbert and TDS started, they did do the Cohen thing. The people they talked to didn’t realize who they were and it was very attackish. When Jon got ahold of the reigns, it switch more over to the correspondents being the fools, but even that wasn’t a quick rotation. On the Inside the Paley center done (i think in 2002, i have a podcast i could convert if anyone knows how to do that), Colbert and Carrel discussed how dirty they should feel after the job they do of their interviewee.
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So true, I remember that “Paley” interview… well I’m just glad they learned to tone it down, over the years…
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That’s a really good point, after Jon got a hold of the show, it seems he went in a very different direction. I agree, it seems that the correspondents are the fools now and it’s a better way to do things, I think. I find Cohen’s style to be a bit objectionable.
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I always found that Cohen’s comedy, though incredibly brave (I’ll give him that) was a bit to singular, he always goes a bit too far and I feel sorry for his guests, it seemed to me that he plays at his interviewees rather than with them as Stephen does… they both do the same thing I suppose, but Stephen has far more humanity, sure it’s a bit softer, but I don’t think Stephen is playing safe, he’s just playing nice :). It shows that Stephen’s character has dimensions when he tones it up or down for certain guests, whereas Cohen is always dialed to 11!
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I agree. And with Stephen, I see a kindness and lack of malice that I don’t see in Cohen. Which is amazing because Stephen has done some pretty crazy things both on TDS and TCR over the years. Yet, Cohen definitely has his funny moments.
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I agree also. Stephen has said that he can dial down his interviewing technique based on who he’s interviewing and I think that’s an important part of why he’s still likable despite what he says sometimes.
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I couldn’t have said it better. Thank you!
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Oh how silly head-rugs on men crack me up. That eagle is HILARIOUS!
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Sacha Baron Cohen is VERY hit and miss. Da Ali G Show had some segments that were definitely comedy gold, but then there’d be segments peppered in between that were just a cringe-fest. Bruno was the weakest of his 3 characters, in my opinion (whether that translates to the movie or not, I don’t know yet since I haven’t watched it).
I think the parts where his guest is more objectionable than himself is where Sacha really shines. The “Borat Politics” video on YouTube is an example. Also, if you’ve watched Ali G’s Ice Cream Glove segment, that’s more along the lines of what the correspondents do in terms of making an idiot of themselves. But I definitely think he’s a little less consistent than our favorite fake news crew.
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Haha! Ann, I hope you don’t mind, but I’d like to add this CNN article to the mix:
“Is Narcissism Keeping You Single?”
http://www.cnn.com/2009/LIVING/personal/07/01/tf.narcissim.keeping.you.single/index.html
“Twentysomethings not only expect to waltz into high-level career positions right out of college, they also expect partners who have the moral fortitude of Nelson Mandela, the comedic timing of STEPHEN COLBERT, the abs of Hugh Jackman, and the hair of Patrick Dempsey.”
This article is rather ironic since people are usually discussing the narcissism of Stephen’s character. Anyhow, I’m a single in my twenties and it’s all Stephen’s fault;) Might I add that Stephen also has moral fortitude and will once again have gorgeous hair…and who cares about six-pack abs?! I find wit far sexier!
recaptcha: mutter sympathy
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The news also forgets to add that over half of their workers are unmarried or divorced because of the strains the job puts on them. Along with that, with divorce being so prevalent when we twenty somethings grew up, we ourselves are in no rush to get married. I’ll get married and divorced when I’m damn well ready to =p
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I agree! I can take or leave Hugh Jackman and his abs, frankly. Give me a witty Jon or Stephen and I’m happy. :)
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I don’t mind at all, jump right in!
I can’t really comment on the truth of this article — my 20s are but a distant fuzzy memory, and the 20-somethings I work with don’t seem to be like that — but I’ll say that a sense of humor is far more important to me than great abs or fantastic hair. If you can’t make me laugh, you don’t stand a chance. And that’s been true for my entire adult life.
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I don’t get that line, ““It goes without saying that Stephen Colbert owes Baron Cohen a debt too large to repay”
Just because his comedy style is “safer”, how does Stephen owe him anything?
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