I hope everyone rested this weekend, because we’ve got a whole new batch of the best shows ever to keep you entertained while we wait out this ‘Colbert Report’ break. Here is the next choice for No Fact Zone’s Top 10 Best ‘Colbert Report’ episodes ever:
#8 – Finally, a new television show premiers … and changes the world – This is the first ‘Colbert Report’ ever! (Episode 1001)
This show set the tone, the feel, the truthiness of the show that has lasted until the shows of today. Bits such as The WØRD, Threatdown, and the Bookshelf segment. Legend has it that the word “Truthiness” was coined mere moments before the first show was to air. Colbert mentioned in an interview with Onion’s AV Club:
Truthiness is tearing apart our country, and I don’t mean the argument over who came up with the word. I don’t know whether it’s a new thing, but it’s certainly a current thing, in that it doesn’t seem to matter what facts are. It used to be, everyone was entitled to their own opinion, but not their own facts. But that’s not the case anymore. Facts matter not at all. Perception is everything. It’s certainty. … What is important? What you want to be true, or what is true?
One of my favorite quotes from this show was “This show is dedicated to the heroes. And who are the heroes? The people who watch this show.” From the first moments of the show, he hit us with the unadulterated “Stephen Colbert” character. He let us know it was all about us. Us watching him. And it was all about him. That takes a big set of brass balls to be that self-centric, and he’s been beating us about the head with them since Day 1.
This episode also features one of my very favorite segments, the Gravitas-Off with Stone Phillips. Stephen has often said that he based much of his character’s mannerisms on Geraldo Rivera and bases his character’s neck on Stone Phillips. To see Stephen and Stone work their necks together is positively majestic. My very favorite line from the episode, one that makes me laugh so very hard even to this day, is “Thankfully, alert Gauchos were able to save the llama before it was swept into the blades of the turbine.”
Please enjoy the show after the break, and for you new members of the Colbert Nation, make sure to embrace this little piece of Colbert history in the making.
| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Intro – 10/17/05 | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| First Show | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| The Word – Truthiness | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| ThreatDown – Bird Flu | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stone Phillips | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Stone Phillips – Gravitas-Off | ||||
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| The Colbert Report | Mon – Thurs 11:30pm / 10:30c | |||
| Commemorating Citizenship | ||||
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Great pick, DB. I remember falling in love with this show after the first “Tonight!” And can I just add a shout-out to Bobby!!!!
My favorite line from the Gravitas-off (and I’ve quoted it often) “If you’ve ever sat naked on a hotel bedspread, we have got a chilling report you won’t want to miss.”
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1
I found out that I come from a long line of it-getters when I “it-getted” the country club line.
Stephen has truly kept his promise to ~feel the news AT us to this day.
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Wooow, the first episode! This was a great idea, to include the premiere of the show in the 10 best episodes. Oh, how I wish I’d been around to see this the first time it aired! Still – the Gravitas-off with Stone Philips is one of the first things I saw on the “Best of TCR” DVD and it won me over in no time! As soon as he almost said the line to the wrong camera, I knew I loved this guy! :)
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Oh, how I adore the first show! I do remember wondering how he would ever be able to keep it up, all by himself. And yet, here we are, over 500 shows later. He’s still going strong.
I love the Stone Phillips interview. Mr. Phillips keeps trying to keep a straight face. I don’t think he realized how funny Stephen is.
And the Gravitas-Off! So, so, so great. Keep ‘em coming, DB. You’re on a roll! :-D
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Wow, I haven’t seen this since it first aired! This show had me at “The Word” (but I believe it was the line “Filliam H. Muffman” from a future episode that turned me into a fangirl!). Thanks for posting :)
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Omigosh – this is the first time I caught the “pencil-neck geek” reference. Now I can’t get the song out of my head.
“But the geeks shall inherit the earth.” LOL
Shout Out (Hey!):
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Oh the neck, the fantastic, reassuring neck.
“There were no…survivorrrrs.”
Shout Out (Hey!):
+1